


Hidden Fighter

by Roses_Sunset



Series: Hidden Fighter [1]
Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, F/M, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, im sorry but i had to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-20 22:17:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14903129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roses_Sunset/pseuds/Roses_Sunset
Summary: Beth and Annie have a third sister and she was dragged into the life of crime meeting gangbanger Rio. Can she manage her life or will it spiral out of control? Can Rio even control her?FIRST PART COMPLETED





	1. Pilot

“Why did I agree to come with you for this” I had my eyes closed giggling as Beth yelped from the pain.

“Because I need someone to drive after and Annie was working so you lo- ow”A lady walked into the room holding a card out. 

“Mrs. Boland your card was declined ” Both of us looked at the lady surprised. Beth asked her if she was sure but the lady nodded. Like Beth, she gave Dean the benefit of the doubt something about him being busy all the time. When we got into the car Beth was very quiet like if she was battling with herself. 

* * *

 

Once we reached the diner Annie was already there waiting for us. I was the first to give her the hug before Beth. “You won’t believe what happened to Beth!”

“Our card got declined” Ruby passed by giving us a quick greeting before pouring Beth coffee and leaving to finish her shift  . Annie’s face was surprised likeours. “When I checked online he maxed out the whole thing in a lingerie store”

“How did you find out in the first place"

“I went to get a Brazilian wax when they came inside mid-appointment to tell me that my card  was declined  ," Annie was smiling  .  "And she was only halfway through my wax,” I tried not to giggle as she continued with the story this was something serious but it had a comedic relief .

“So what happened,” Annie asked.

“Well, now I’m very uneven” Ruby came back with a cup of tea to give to me before sitting down behind us.

“You think he’s sleeping around?” We tried reassuring her even if his gift of one hundred coupons to Bed Bath and Beyond didn’t help our case. 

“Son of a bitch” Annie interrupted. “That old guy is stealing your tip” She pointed. I turned around seeing him walk towards a booth.

“Go get it” Ruby got up walking to the booth grabbing the money at the same time the old man reached out. She opened her mouth looking back at us repeating the word shady as she sat back down.

“My old job we got robbed all the time so I got the sixth sense now” I smiled taking a sip of my tea as Beth scolded Annie. “They  just  want the money so we  just  let them have it”

“Do they get caught?”Ruby questioned.

“The dumb ones” I interjected as I drank my tea

“Yeah ‘cause they park in the front by the security cameras, you got to put your getaway car in the back by the loading docks. And you never dig around by the cashiers the real money is back in the vault”

“You  really  thought this one out” Beth smirked, I agreed with her but I understood where Annie was coming from. I turned to Ruby seeing her zone out. “How much is in the vault?”

“30k give or take” All our mouths dropped.

 

 

“I can use that money” Ruby answered

 

“Oh my god me too” and Annie breathed. I zoned out for a thinking about it I didn’t come back until the girls looked at me and Beth laughing. Yeah, that’d be stupid. I looked at the time before running out the booth.

“Sorry girls I have to go to class, Beth can Annie take you home?” She nodded give me a kiss goodbye.

When I arrived to class my professor dismissed me and told me to go the Deans office. The lady greeted me guiding me into the office.

“Hello, Ms. Marks sorry for the late notice” She opened my files reading my papers. “Good GPA, grades are wonderful” I nodded confused on why this was happening.  “I’m sorry to tell you this but the scholarship foundation that was funding you through college and vet school has  been shut  down for investigation so everyone’s income has  been closed  including yours .” My body froze as she dropped my papers before looking at me.

“Can I know what happened?” She sucked her teeth before shaking her head. “What does this mean for me?”

“All past, present, and future money income have  been removed  from your account so any classes you have taken and currently taking have  been charged  into your account . Since this is being investigated any credit you’ve may have earned are being held until payment.

“But I had nothing to do with the investigation” I felt my cheeks wet and I tried wiping them off.

“I understand that but its procedure” She sighed reaching out to grab my hand.  “Listen I know you worked hard we tried to stop it that’s why your credits have only  been frozen  and not completely removed” She let go looking back at my file .

“Unfortunately that also means your diploma is being held, you’re in the clear for this semester but starting next semester if you don’t start a payment plan we have to kick you out of the program” Anything else why don’t you .

I met up with Ruby in the parking lot before we entered together. I dropped my bags off feeling a different vibe in the house. I looked in the living room seeing Beth get up her face all puffed up. She grabbed me and Ruby giving us a hug. Annie was mouthing us something but it didn’t register it until the third time.

“Son of a Bitch,” said Ruby

“What can we do,” I told her as I played with her hair knowing that soothes her.

“How about a screwdriver”

“A sledgehammer”

Cut to all three of us girls watching Beth completely destroy his office with said sledgehammer . I wasn’t till Beth stopped picking up papers that we started to worry.

When all the girls left hating Dean Beth and I stayed till late talking. “You sure you want to do this?” I put my hand on her shoulder squeezing it.

 

 

“Yeah go to bed” She put her hand over mind reassuring me. I nodded giving her a quick kiss on the head. She stopped me by my hand. “Hey… We’ll get through this” I nodded before heading upstairs.

 

 

 

When I got up the next day the kids were already out of the house and Beth had determined face.  “That face scares me” She looked at me and smiled like if she wasn’t crying out her eyes the night before she was always the strongest one of us three .

The girls finally arrived and we sat around the kitchen table looking at Beth. “We're gonna rob that store” We all looked dumbfounded until Beth didn’t repeat it did it register. Annie was the only one to cheer.

“Have you lost your mind” Both I and Ruby said at the same time. “We were  just  kidding” Ruby added. I actually  was left  thinking about it.

 

 

“You get to help your little girl” Beth told Ruby than pointed to Annie. “You get to take care of this custody thing” before landing on me. “You can save your degree" Then she pointed to herself.  "And I get to save my family and we're done,” Annie reached out for a high five from Beth before putting it back down I gave her a quick one before Beth said anything .

  

 

* * *

 

 

 

We were in the parking lot reminding everyone about the plan and how to go through with it.  Once we were inside guns blazing I hunted down for any witnesses in the back hiding while the girls handled the front  . “Come on people lets go” I guided everyone to the front by the time I got back Annie was in the back already. Beth was being a mom and talking to a little kid my heart went out for her she must  be scared  shitless. Annie started running out the back which was our signal to go. We put the bags in the car before driving off.

 

 

I removed my mask feeling like a different person when I wore it. Beth and Ruby were sitting on the couch as Annie and I counted. My heart was beating quickly as we counted it. There was so much more than 30k in that vault.

 

 

“Count it again” Ruby yelled.

 

 

“We did,” I told Ruby.

 

 

“You said there would be 30k”Beth shouted.

 

 

“I said 30 give or take and I guess it’s give”She pointed tot he piles of cash on the table

 

 

 

“Why does a grocery have this kind of money on hand?” I looked at Annie I was the one to defend her but I didn’t know how.

 

 

 

“Annie this was a bad idea” We were arguing back and forth until we reached on an agreement to not spend any of it. That what I did until I walked into the counselor office.

 

 

“Surprised to see you here so soon” She greeted me before I sat down.

 

 

 

“I’d like to start that payment plan” She looked at me stunned but nodded nonetheless.

 

 

“How much would you like to start with” She started typing into the computer.

 

 

 

“15k” Her eyes almost bulged out. “Rich grandpa” I chuckled to myself before continuing the process.

 

 

 

Once the meeting was over, I texted Beth to pick me up to help with groceries. I opened the door for Beth since she had both bags. The dog came to the door whimpering.

 

 

 

“Hey, bud, what’s wrong?” I turned to the dog petting it.  “Want me to walk you, need to potty” A deep voice came from nowhere causing to almost shit my pants as I turned to see three men sitting in the kitchen .

 

 

 

“Nah he’s good we already took him out” I dropped the keys on the floor not being able to do anything not even to warn Beth. She followed behind me yelling and dropping both bags on the floor. I looked around the area seeing if there were any more guys until my eyes landed on the golden gun.

 

 

“What do you want” Beth was the first to speak. The one that was sitting down hopped down the counter walking towards us. “Relax sweethearts I  just  need you to call the rest of your friends over so we could all have a little talk

 

 

“About what,” I said. God how I was managing on even speaking right now is surprising me. He turned to me before smiling.

 

 

 

“Oh, about the money you stole from us”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

“Yo this backsplash is dope, what’s that made out of marble?” He looked at us before looking at the backsplash. “Yo, you ever get any problems with staining back here? Like if you cookin’ a big pot of spaghetti sauce or something like that”

 

 

“No I don’t think so,” Beth told him. I was holding on to Annie’s hand at first I thought it was for me but it felt like Annie needed it more.

 

 

 

“Look we didn’t know you owned the store” Ruby pleaded to the guy. He didn’t something tells me he wasn’t a grocery store owning kind of guy who plays golf on the weekends. He was someone much more dangerous.

 

 

“I look like a grocery store manager to you?” He smirked walking closer to us. He turned to one of his guys before looking at Ruby. “What like a Rotary Club or somethin’” Once he was in front of us he continued.  “Nah, let’s  just  say that we got certain “arrangements” with some local businesses” He stopped to look at me holding Annie’s hand before continuing .

 

 

“We can get it back” I added. “Your money”

 

 

 

“That’d be great” he walked back the stove digging his hands into his pockets.

 

 

“Most of it” The whole room stood quietly.

 

 

“I’m sorry what?” The man asked.

 

 

“Some of it for sure” I looked at Annie realizing what she did. “Oh what like you guys didn’t spend a dime”

 

 

 

“How much?” I asked her

 

 

 

“A hundred” Beth sighed of relief. “Grand” Ruby turned wanting to kill Annie.

 

 

 

“I’m gonna shoot you myself” she shouted hushed.

 

 

“Nah, you  just  gonna pay me back is all” he grabbed his gun holding it into a ready position. “With interest” They all started walking out passing us.

 

 

“You know, you really got to be careful, ladies with citrus on marble like lemon and whatnot that stuff will erode like crazy.

 

 

 

I called the counselors office not wanting to leave the house.“Hi, this is Marks from today. Yeah,  I was wondering  if I could take out my recent deposit” The other side was silent for a moment.

 

 

 

“I’m sorry Ms. Marks but as soon as you put in money it was immediately deposited, you can’t get it back,” I balled my hands into fist wanting to punch something .

 

 

 

“Ok thank you so much” I hung up saying about a thousand curse words as I paced my room.

 

 

“Over 60 grand short” I double checked everything as the girls argued.

  

 

“That’s enough we all spent on what we thought was important” My head was killing me so much has happened in a matter of days.

 

 

 

“We should go to the police,” Ruby said. Which led to another argument but I and Beth looked at each other. We had the same idea but she was the first one to speak.

 

 

 

“Enough! Enough” That stopped both of them from arguing. “Now we’re gonna get that money. We’re gonna figure it out.” I drank the rest of my drink as we heard Beth’s pep talk. “I’m gonna go shower I smell like booze and crime” Beth left leaving us three. Ruby downed the rest of hers before heading to the door.

 

 

 

“Want a ride back to Beth’s?” She looked at me.

 

 

“Yeah I have class early and her house is closer” I walked to Annie giving her a hug. “We got this. We always do” I followed Ruby to her car collapsing when we sat down.

 

 

 

“Do you  really  believe that?” She asked me. 

 

 

“I don’t know anymore” I sighed.


	2. Mo Money Mo Problems

My eyes were shutting on themselves as the professor spoke. Last night as soon as I got home I had this queasy feeling and I couldn’t sleep. I got a good hour of sleep before my alarm rang on me. I was trying to pay attention to the professor speak but every word she said seemed dragged out as my eyes shut.

Right before I passed out she had dismissed the class. I was getting my stuff when she stopped me, busted.

“It’s not like you to fall asleep in my class” She was typing on her laptop as she spoke to me.

“I’ve been having...” She cut me off.

“This isn’t high school I don't need excuses. You’re a great kid and I know it. I heard about your credits dilemma, I’m assuming you’re working double shifts for the payments. Remember you’re still a student” I played with the rings of my notebook as scolded me. God my whole life is feeling like I’m back in high school and that was a long time ago.

“Of course Mrs. Holloway” I bid her a goodbye walking to the door.

“Ms. Marks” I turned around as she stopped doing everything to look at me. “Don’t do anything stupid” I smiled nodding before heading out. I had to go to the mechanic to pick up my car I hated asking people to pick me up and take me places I needed my own thing.

When I got there my car was already waiting for me I needed to pay the second half of the fee and sign some papers and I was good to go.

When I got to the house the girls were already there. “There’s been a development,” They told me as I dropped the keys off.

“Oh no” I muttered. They took me to the tree house the kids use to play in it was a man tied up begging for someone to get him out.

“We leave you two alone for a night” I yelled. “What happened” I urged them on.

“He knows about the store” Annie was the first to enter the house sitting on the chair looking back at us.

“He was going to the cops” Beth added. I was about to ask if he knew about the gang but Ruby shook her head like she already asked beforehand.

“Oh and he tried raping me”

“Oh my God An” I was gonna walk to her but she stopped me.

“Don’t worry Beth pointed a gun at him” I looked at Beth her nodding confirmed the story.

“What are we gonna do”

“Tomorrow Annie is going to Gregg for a loan” I didn’t think Annie would be up to it.

“Yea more like humiliate me” Both of the girls looked at Annie shutting her up.

“I have to go keep perceiving the normal life, gotta go train the soccer team”

“Hey, Sara can’t buy the team shirt for the game” her sentenced trailed off.

“Its fine Ruby” I walked upstairs getting ready for practice.

\---

“Come on Gina” The little kids were being rough with each other for some odd reason. “We’re a team here no need to take the ball away from each other” Sara was falling back she was still getting use the medication but she’s better. “Sara come on girl grab the ball” It seemed to motivate her to run faster catching up. I turned around noticing the guy with his goons leaning by the bleachers. “I’ll be watching”

My legs kept walking forward but my brain wanted me to run, when I stood in front of them I kicked myself for even noticing their presence. “Do you enjoy it?” He asked me as he stared at the kids playing. His shirt lifted when he stretched back to reveal his gun.

“There are children here” My voice cracked, he noticed making him smile. Everything was quiet as he waited for me to respond to him.  “Yes I do” He played with his bottom lip thinking about something as he looked me down, at that moment I regretted wearing my practice shorts and not my sweats. “We're gonna give you the money” I kept picking at my nails trying to do something without actually moving.

“Would hate to see you lose it all” he pulled his shirt down letting his boy lead the way leaving the area. When he left I breathed a gulp of fresh air as I walked back to the kids. When practice was over I huddled the kids in a circle.

“Okay guys we have our game this Saturday so there’s no practice tomorrow, get some rest eat healthily and I love you guys” They all giggled. “Group hug” They all trampled me for the group hug

\---

When I go home the girls were staying by the phone. “What did I miss?” I asked them.

“We have a plan but I need you to stay home with the kids” I sat down preparing to listen to the plan. I stared at them before shaking my head.

“This is a horrible plan,” I told them.

“No it's not” Annie whined. She looked at me for a second before continuing. “Okay maybe a little but its the only thing we have left tomorrow he’s coming for his money” I rubbed my temples grabbing a cup before taking a shot of whiskey.

“Fine, I’ll keep an eye on the kids” The girls left an hour later and I stayed feeding the kids what Beth left me too cook. They were all ready to sleep when I put them in their beds, I went to my room since it was the closest room to the kid's room so I could hear if anything happens. I opened my laptop signing into my email.

I got an email from the school about my payment plan. I had to pay 250,000 dollars in course payments to fully receive my degree. I grunted almost throwing my laptop into the floor. I need more cash and I don’t know how. The rest of the night I applied to more loan funding’s, to help me out, it wasn’t till the next morning when my alarm woke me up did I realize I fell asleep and didn’t see how everything went with the girls. I went downstairs to go check but Beth wasn’t home, I shrugged it off heading to my class.

I got back before the men got there “So how was last night?” I asked Beth.

“Yea everything went fine” The conversation got cut short when the men came into the home. I showed them the bag sitting next to Beth as the man with the tattoo at the top of his brow grabbed it counting the money. The last stack he looked up at the leader shaking his head which caused the man to come to the table

As Annie showed the guy the dolls I knew this wasn’t gonna end well. I held on to Beth’s hand my tears wanting to come out. He grabbed them destroying them to pieces before walking away. Two men starting throwing stuff on the floor destroying the house.

“They’re making it look like a home invasion”

“They’re gonna kill us” I squeezed her hand. Calling to the guy. “Stop please don’t do this” He glanced at me before looking down at his phone. Everything was quiet I looked at Annie as she only stared at the gun.

“You’re an idiot” Annie called to Beth. “What, are you gonna blow our brains out all over the room?’ Cause that's how it works, right? Someone shorts you, and they get tossed out like trash? And no one cares, and no one even notices.” I looked at Beth as her whole persona changed. She was trying to save our asses one more time. “Your problem this time is that's not us. We're normal people. We pay our taxes and we take our kids to P.F.Chang's, and we take orange slices to soccer games. And when bad things happen to good people, everyone else goes crazy.” He looked up putting his phone away listening to her.

“It's all over the news. And there are all these hashtags and movements. Because if it could happen to us, it could happen to anyone. So if you want to invite all that attention over a few grand, then you're not the smart businessman you think you are. Now, roll the dice. Tell him to pull the trigger. See what happens.” they both looked at each other before the leader shook his making the man put the gun away.

They grabbed the bag leaving quickly. I ran outside throwing up everything that was in my stomach which wasn’t much. Ruby came outside handing me a drink “To life” We all downed the drink scrunching up from the taste. When we went up the tree house to deal with the other guy he was gone.

\---

“He’s over there” I pointed to the ally where the guy was running. He turned seeing us before running into a hole.

“What is he doing,” Beth asked.

“Annie remember what John did to the guy for his little sister” Annie’s face turned bright.

“You’re a genius” She got out of the car walking to the ditch.

“She’s gonna cut his penis” Ruby looking shocked told us.

“No, she’s not” A couple seconds later Ruby’s phone dinged with a message.

“Oh, hell, no” Annie entered the car giving me a high five giggling like a maniac. “Both of you are sick” We all smiled realizing maybe things are gonna get better.

\---

“I’m feeling lucky” Beth whispered. “What are we in the mood for?”

“Minions” Emma shouted jumping on me. Beth back and forth looked at the remote and TV whispering some things concentrating. When the screen lit up everyone cheered.

“Where’s your brother?” Emma pointed outside.

“I’ll go you get the drinks” I headed outside to get Kenny. I sped up when I saw who Kenny was talking to.

“Kenny go inside” I couldn’t stop staring at the man until I knew Kenny was safe inside.

“But your friend's helping me,” He told me.

”Stop with the homework and go inside and watch TV” I grabbed his arm pulling him away. “Now”.

“Listen to Aunty, Kenny.” He touched the kid's shoulder letting him leave. Once Kenny was inside I felt a thousand times more relaxed. “You know you should really get him a tutor, right?”

“You want the rest of the money? We'll get it.”

“No, let's forget all that.” He smirked at me.

Then what are you doing here” I asked him crossing my arms.

“I keep thinking about what your sister said” He kept looking me up and down. “About being a basic bitch and whatnot.”

“That's not exactly what she said,” I told him but he cut me off.

“Maybe there's something you could help me out with” I don’t know why I felt intrigued to ask but I did. “You ladies got passports?”


	3. Borderline

I pointed the flashlight on Deans office as Annie and Beth went inside to get keys. “I don’t want to shove nothing up my butt.” Ruby was muttering as she paced outside his office.

“Calm down I don’t think anything will be shoved up our butt” I tried reassuring her.

I grabbed the Ferrari key from Annie showing it to Beth. “If we're gonna be doing bad girl things we should do it in style,” I said as I laid in the hood.

“Like that’s totally not gonna cause attention” Beth joked. I pouted hopping off the car and looking at the next one. “If we were good people we would take the hybrid” We hear a ding and looked at the car we're gonna take.

“That’s so mom” I smiled. “I like it”

\---

Beth was hitting the breaks a bit hard as we waited at the border for our pass. “You need to calm down before you break a neck”I rubbed my neck soothing the ache.

“This is crazy what if we get caught?”

“W-we have no other choice, what if he comes back even worse than before” Annie admitted.

“In front of the kids”

“One more job and were done,” I told them.

“Tell me to turn around Beth stopped the car looking at us. When the car remained silent she continued to the front. The policeman asked for our passports which Ruby gave to Beth, he looked at it for a couple of seconds before giving it back. We all had a breath of relief.

The drive to the direction was quiet with Annie making a few jokes here and there and one of us laughing.

“Still think its drugs,” Asked Ruby.

“Worse… Scrapbooking” Beth drove to the back looking for a Mike. While she talked to a man Ruby was snapping at Annie.

“Uh, going through something with Stan.”Annie smiled playing around with her.

“What, did he rub your feet too much? Been hugging on you too hard?”

“Whats up RU?”I asked.

“Some woman at church took credit for the money” she admitted to us as she played with her purse.

“Wait, for Sara?” She asked her.

Before interjected. “What, who?”

“Some thirsty skank who's been after Stan for years.”

“Damn.”Annie scoffed looking at me.”I mean, it's Stan.”She tried reassuring. “It's not like she actually has any kind of in.”

“Yeah, but it's the fact that she has the nerve to think she does, and that's enough to bug.”

“I feel you,” I told her. Beth entered the car looking pissed.

“He doesn’t have it” She held on to the steering wheel.

“Let me handle it”Annie went out next. We could hear them but we could vaguely read the words.

“She's using the sister thing isn’t she,” I told Beth which she nodded too. “Great” When she came back in the car. “You know that doesn’t work since you were teens” She scoffed sitting down.

“We were bonding”

“Ok let me handle it” Ruby took out her gun scaring all of us.

“Jeez warning next time” We warned she ignored us walking outside she barely let out any words when she shot the man on the foot some people ran while some stayed to help him. I stayed in the car as the girls ran outside to get the box.

\---

“Please go to the other line” The lady pointed in a direction.

“Is that the express lane?” She asked her.

“No search and seizure” she responded. Annies face couldn’t get any whiter then she is. As we waited outside I kept taping my foot to calm myself.

“Everything is fine” The guy couldn’t be a moron to not think this through before sending us. Unless he wanted to get rid of us. Th officer walked towards us he's demeanor cold.

“Have a safe trip home thank you for your patience” The officer gave me the passports before leaving us there.

“Sweet baby Jesus” Annie groaned as we got in the car. As soon as we saw the Michigan sign we parked offroad to see what was in the back.

“ That dog would’ve smelled drugs if there was,” I told Beth. Annie dug her hand inside the box looking for something.

“Guys its just wrapping paper,” She said as she unraveled it. While the front looked like wrapping paper the back was nothing but hundreds. When Beth pulled it down to see our face she connected the dots to see it the other side.

\--

Once we arrived at the warehouse it looked abandoned, it wasn’t till some goons opened the door that we knew we didn’t get the wrong address. It was like a movie so many machines so innocent separate can be so different together. I spotted the guy talking to a man in a suit, I needed to talk to him without the girl listening in.

“Girls hold up” I walked forward heading up to him. “Excuse me. We need to-“ Beth came behind me covering me. 

 

“Excuse me” He ignored her continuing to talk to the man. “No one's gonna show up at our house, no guys, no guns?”When he didn’t say anything she walked away. “No, I'm gonna need to hear you say it.”

He smirked turning to me and Beth. Beth went in front of me, he chuckled before looking at Beth. “Were good” I cant accept that. To celebrate the girls decided to go to a small café.

“Are we celebrating today, ladies?” The waitress asked us. 

“Oh, I would certainly say so”Ruby was the first one to glean about being done with this.

“What's the special occasion?”I was taking a sip of my margarita when the girls spilled the truth out.

“Oh, we just smuggled a bunch of counterfeit money over the Canadian border and escaped a violent street gang.”

“And no drugs in our butts,” I added jokingly.

“No drugs in our butts” Beth gave me a high five then Annie.

“Yay”

“Yay, no drugs in our butts.”She repeated. We all started laughing at the joke died down.

“Pretty special, huh?” I don’t think the lady was expecting us to be that truthful so she just shrugged it off”

“I got to go, ladies, I need to give some assignments to my professors since I missed today” I grabbed my keys saying goodbye to them.

“Wait before you go” Ruby handed me my margarita.

“To normal life” We cheered to that sipping our drinks. I left before they discussed anything else. Yay back to looking for more jobs to work double hours to make a dent in my student funds. I got to campus around sunset. I knocked on my professor's door seeing he was grading papers.

“Ah Ms. Marks Im upset I didn’t see you today” I smiled sheepishly taking out my assignments.

“ I had some family problems I had to deal with” I handed it to him. He looked through it quickly before placing it on a pile of unchecked papers.

“I do have to warn you, your grade is at a B something is distracting you; you’ve had an A in the two semesters I've had you” He fixed his glasses that were hanging low on his nose. “The counselors have told me and im assuming your other professors too that if they see you falling off to not hesitate and pull you out of the class since youre a high-risk student” You looked down trying not to cry.

“Thank you for letting me know, Garcia” He nodded before continuing his grading. I left his room standing right next to his door. I just need five minutes, five minutes and ill be back to being strong. I needed those five minutes as I let the tears flow. Beth cant finds out she already has so much to worry about with her own life.

When I got home Beth wasn’t home yet but Dean was. I ignored his presence just walking upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. I did sleep for maybe an hour till I woke up. I went downstairs to see Beth drinking whiskey.

“Pour me one” I smiled sitting at the counter. She grabbed a cup putting it down serving me some.

“You know the tradition is jordans over a phone line” I turned to see the eagle tattoo guy.

Beth took a sip before continuing. “ We want to contribute more” I couldn’t believe Beth was the one who was entering this world again. I was 100% on board.

“I thought you wanted to be done” He looked at Beth before looking at me. “Don’t tell me Lil Red wants more”

“We're just saying that if you need anything else we are open to the idea?” I told him. Lil red who calls people Lil Red, in his world everyone probably has nicknames.

He pursued his lips. “I'll think about it” was all he said before he left.


	4. Atom Bomb

“So what'd you wanna talk to me about?” I helped Beth with groceries as she talked to Kenny. I was putting stuff away in the cupboard while she put stuff in the fridge.  
“Mom, mom, mom It's not fair” Kenny continued the fight for a huge birthday party. “For Tommy's birthday, we all went out to a Pistons game” I felt bad but he didn’t understand the huge struggles his mother is going through. “We got box seats, and his mom bought us all jerseys.” Do coffee grounds go with spices or snacks cupboard? “And then and then after that, they rented a hotel with room service” 

“Yeah, and now Tommy's mom can't afford college” Beth responded putting the vegetables away. “Snacks” She pointed towards me. 

“Well, I want a birthday party” The kid wasn’t gonna let go. 

“How about a sleepover?” I tried to do middle ground. Both looked at me.  
“With a chocolate fountain.” He added. 

“You could nuke a Hershey bar” Beth fixed the problem. I saw Emma go down the stairs calling Beth but she was busy handling Ken. I walked towards her reaching her level. 

“What’s up bubba” She had her stuffed bunny in her hand. 

“Who’s the man?” I looked at her before looking at Beth who stopped talking to Kenny. 

“What man?” 

“The one in my bed” Beth and I ran upstairs the kids following right behind us. I tried blocking them till I got her signal. When she came back she was nodding her head. 

“Who wants to go swimming at Dada” The kids cheered as I got them ready to take them there. After I dropped them off I went back to Beth’s Ruby and Annie was already there. 

“Will you tell us what’s going on? This is freaking me out” When Beth opened the door, Emma’s bed was being taken by a guy in his early twenties knocked out. 

“I don't know”

”What do you mean you don't know?” He was alive but his breathing was a bit labored; he had a wound that was bleeding in his lower abdomen. 

“I mean, we came back from the grocery store and he was just there” Beth defended herself. “And, I mean, I'm assuming he's, like, an associate of the gangbanger.

“Come on, I thought we were done with that.”

“Yeah, what the hell?”

“Okay, okay, we were” She stopped talking looking at me “And then God, this sounds so crazy even saying it “I-I-I offered to do another job”

"Uh you asked for this?” Ruby wanted to kill Beth right now. 

“It's not like we don't need the money and she knew,” She said pointing at me. “We all still need the money.”

“So you asked for this” she repeated but to me.

“Not this” She cried out. While all of this was happening Annie was having a jolly good time. 

“I just can't believe it's both of you and not me” Beth glared at Annie. “Come on, it's crazy”

"Look, I just I just said that we would possibly if the circumstances were right, do some help”

“Okay guys we need to figure this out” 

“Call your Bff” She pointed at me. 

“He’s not my BFF I don’t even know his name”

“But he might” Annie pointed to the body. Annie grabbed the phone calling the first person on the cell that wasn’t his mom.  
\---  
“That’s not what we meant when we said we’d do another job” I scolded him. “Who is he?”

“He works for me” It was freezing cold outside which just made me a bit snappier. 

“There’s been a miscommunication”

“Oh, so you think you can choose whatever you wanna do and when you wanna do it” He kept glancing at me as he bickered with Beth. 

“Your friend needs professional medical attention” Beth argued

“She’s a doc” Rio glanced at me. 

“I’m a vet!” I yelled. “Meaning doctor for animals” 

“He ain't going to no hospital” It wasn’t till he started taking out stacks of cash four to be precise was when we started budging. 

“You must know something about wrapping wounds” Annie nudged me. We were back upstairs still looking at the very unconscious kid. 

“Fine bring me your emergency kit from under the bathroom sink” I ordered Beth. I pointed to Ruby “Bring me whiskey” 

“To clean the wound” She nodded but I shook my head. 

“No that’s for me” Beth came back with the kit. I whine taking slow steps into the room. Ruby came in with a cup of whiskey; I took a huge chug before nodding my head. 

“Ok, this is just a dog” I uncovered the bloody bandage to see the blood still ooze. 

“A really big dog” I sighed opening the box to get some liquid.  
After cleaning and re-bandaging the wound I was exhausted. Beth told me to go to bed but I wanted to stay up and keep an eye on the kid. So we all stayed downstairs making sure no one entered. We didn’t even notice it was daytime till ruby came in letting the brightness in well. 

“Has he woken up?” I shook my head waking myself up a bit more. “Do you want him to” We all turned when we heard a thump coming from upstairs. Impeccable timing kid. We all ran upstairs looking at the baseball bat in Beth’s hand.  
Annie and Ruby went to the closet to get the gun and Beth stayed close behind me. The door creaked open. I was about to yell the coast was clear when I saw the inside of a barrel. “Found it” 

“I’m a friend of your friends” The kid started moving forward making me move back. 

“I need a car” He pointed the gun at each of the girls scaring them. 

“Listen who do you think re bandaged your wound” He looked down seeing the wound clean. “We're not here to hurt you just-“He pointed the gun directly to my forehead. 

“If you don’t give me a car or it'll blow your brains out” Beth came in front of me. 

“Okay, downstairs, on the counter. And just take it” The kid started walking towards the door before leaving. 

“Got a gun pointed on me and now I have to go to class sweet” I took a shower before going to class I needed to keep up my grades if I want to stay in my classes. While I was taking notes an email popped up on my screen. PAYMENT DUE. I have to cough up my next payment plan soon and I don’t know how I’m gonna do that when I lost my job. 

“Kenny’s having a party I’ll explain when you get back don’t want to surprise you” I read the message continuing the notes. When I got back to the house, Kenny ran to hug me. “Hey, sports don’t think I forgot about you” You showed him his gift. 

“I knew you guys were hiding a party” Kenny smile was two miles wide. I messed with his hair before telling him about the candles. As he blew the candles I looked up seeing Rio. 

“Excuse me” Beth tried excusing herself. 

“It’s your kids birthday let me handle it” She nodded letting me go. I walked inside  
following him to my room. 

“You can’t just walk in here” He was looking around at the pictures in the room. 

“The door was open” 

“Because it’s a kid’s party” He lifted up his shirt to fix it showing his gun. “Why the need to bring the gun” He looked down at it smiling before looking at me again.

“Oh this baby, I carry this everywhere,” He said as he pointed to the gun, before going back to the pictures. 

“So you’re a vet” 

“Yes. Now, what are you doing here” He put the picture down before walking towards me until he was right in front of me. He had this nasty habit of scanning my entire body and I don’t know why I never hate it.

“I’m here to pick up my boy” He put his hand in front of him waiting for me to respond. 

“Your boy held me at gunpoint nearly blowing my head off and took my sister's car so we're gonna need payment for that too”.

“Oh, I'm sorry, what payment?” I knew this was gonna happen. “Yeah, you get paid when you do a job” He looked around the room scoffing. “Did did you do a job?”

“He left”

“Then that's on you”

"What am I supposed to do? Chain him to a bed? Or better yet let him blow my brains out” I argued.

"Oh, baby, this isn’t your little league and you don’t get a trophy just for playing”

“I tried” I warned him.

“I don't give a damn if you try” His eyes squinted as he came closer to me. “You gotta win, bitch” When both of you heard peoples voices he took a step back getting ready to leave. 

“Wait” I grabbed his arm stopping him. He looked at my hand like if I was crazy which made me let go. “I need to talk to you” 

“Is everything okay in here?” Beth came into the room stopping any further conversation. 

“Yeah everything is fine”

“I will see you two later” Rio left not even looking back. 

“Did he hurt you?” Beth looked me overseeing for any bruises. 

“No Beth I’m fine” She made sure I was okay before heading downstairs to clean the kitchen. As soon as she closed the door behind her I grabbed the phone out of my pocket. He was smart enough to leave it with a passcode but not to feel it get pickpocketed the phone was useless until he texted it but now I have something connected to him.

When I went downstairs Annie was holding on to Beth. She looked at me shaping the letter C to me and whispering Dean. I grabbed them taking them to my room  
so we could lie on my bed. I let Beth and Annie sleep on my bed and id sleep on the couch since I had to wake up early for school anyway. When I was grabbing clothes I put the phone in my pocket without them noticing. 

The phone dinged when I finished putting the children to bed. 

“You know I could kill you for this” The message showed. 

“I would’ve been dead if that was true. You want the phone meet me in Grantley in an hour. I had no business being on that phone more than I needed to be so I grabbed my purse my keys and left the house hopefully without anyone noticing. 

A park at night is dangerously scary especially when you have people that literally kill other people coming to you.

“What had to be so important that you needed to steal from me again?” 

“I would have said temporarily borrowed” I tried easing the tension which only caused a small smirk from Rio. “Fine cut to the chase” 

“I need cash” He snickered. 

“This isn’t a loaning department” He responded.

“I know that. I need the extra cash and you don’t want anyone eyes on you and your boys in the hospital” He was coming closer as the words dragged out. “So I was thinking whenever you or your boys need the help as long as you have the supplies we could make this work” 

“You sure you could handle this Lil Red” He was standing a couple of inches away from me which kept making me nauseated. 

“I can handle a lot of things” I retorted. My brain flinches, that sounded way better in my head. He chuckled biting his lip. 

“Right Right” He turned around leaving the playground. 

“Well?” I asked him he didn’t really give me an answer. 

“You’ll hear from me real soon” When he left I sat down on the benches thinking about what I did. 

“Your phone!” I reached for my pocket but found it empty. I got swindled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i want to thank @sleepylotus cause one her writing is beautiful and i go the idea Red as a nickname from her Beth and Rio stories so i thought Lil Red would be cute as a nickname for the baby sister. Hope youre not upset!


	5. Taking Care of Business P.1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter will be a two-parter since it was way too long

When I snuck back into the house I heard no one so that’s good news to me. I laid on the couch my head already feeling woozy from the lack of sleep, I was able to go to sleep for the remainder of the hours of the night. When my alarm rang I convinced myself to take a quick shower before classes. The warm water hitting my muscle quickly relaxed me I didn’t have time to enjoy the shower since I had to go to class. I parked my car near the south main which was close to most of my classes that day.

Today was the first day I actually felt like a normal student. Didn’t have an angry gangbanger trying to kill me or owe anybody criminals any money. “Great to see you back in business Ms. Marks” Garcia yelled. Walking to my next class I quickly texted Beth to see how she was. For the rest of the time, I just continued taking notes and next class we were actually having labs I couldn't be late.

As I walked back to my car I read Beth’s text. “We need to talk” Goddamnit I have to follow this girl everywhere.

“You know they say it’s dangerous to text and walk” There leaning on the hood of my car was Rio he was wearing his hoodie funny like half on and half off. It took me a second to realize that he probably wasn’t there to kill me. “I came to give you this” He handed me something small. When I actually looked it was a burner phone at least that’s what I think.

“A burner?” He nodded looking up to scan the area before looking back at me.

“It has only one number saved so don’t call no one else and we’ll be texting you when you need to go to a certain location” I felt like I was being taught something new “This is your last chance Lil Red to back out”

“No I’m good” I put the phone in my pocket. “Hey my sister can’t know about this little side business”

“That’s none of my business anyway” He checked one of his phones before leaving the garage as I got in my car.

When I parked in front of the house the girls were already sitting there a stack of cash lying in the middle of the kitchen counter. “I leave for less than a day”

“Were getting rid of this money anyways” she told me shaking her head.

“No, we're not” Annie opposed.

“The FBI is breathing down my neck”

“He just talked to you about suspicious things in the neighborhood” Rio came behind me his warmth surprising me. I must’ve beaten him to here and he smiled knowing that too.

He looked at the cash on the table before staring at Beth “Yeah, I’m not sure I see the problem”

“You and me both, brother” Annie mumbled. Rio was about to leave when Beth stopped him.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait for a second, don't you want to take your product?”

Rio was getting annoyed by the way his eyebrow twitches but he still kept his cool demeanor. “This ain't the Girl Scouts.” He chuckled. “You can't give the cookies back.”

“Aren't you worried about the FBI?”I asked him for a man who has the FBI looking for him he has kept his cool demeanor.

“Nah” He shrugged me off.

“See?” she added.

“There's a distribution system,” He told Beth. “You've been distributed to”

“What does that mean?” Beth shook her head confused.

“It means we're on the hook now,” I told her when the realization hit that one wrong slip and I could lose my deal with Rio

“It's like, 100 grand” I looked at the stack of cash. Wow, it seems so small when put together.

“Oh, you don't have to wash it,” Ruby asked then how did it work.

“Burn it, eat it, wipe your ass with it and then write me a check because either way, I'm coming to collect” I pray we don’t screw this up.

Beth explained to us in grave details how this will work and I felt like I could recite the whole thing from the top of my head. I was at Quichop buying a couple of appliances. The lady looked at my orders. “Boyfriend says I could decorate the kitchen.”

“Your total is 6,582” I took out the green wrapped cash giving it to the lady. She took a machine from under the aisle. Is this gonna work? Act cool. As she verified the cash I felt my foot tap, when I heard the ding I felt a wave of relief. “Would you like a receipt” I nodded taking the receipt walking out of the store. It was like this for a few days.

\---

“We will fix this” We have to fix this. I didn’t know if I was telling them or telling myself

“How? You can't do returns for cash without a receipt” Ruby told me.

“Okay, well I personally would love a solution that doesn't involve crawling back to Brad-Brian” I glared at Annie. “Like well, like, we could give Gang Friend the cash that we do have, and the flat screens”

“Yeah, 'cause that went so well with the Hummels” Beth muttered.

“Nope, I value my life.” Ruby had a point. “I am not going back to those lunatics short again.”

“I very much agree,” Beth interjected. I made myself some tea as we were talking about this because I’ve been having way too much alcohol.

“And can we please stop calling him Gang Friend"How can they not remember his name.

"Okay, what's his name, then?"

"Ron?" I giggled to myself imagining his name being Ron.

"Yo, you see Ron cap that B?” Annie mimicked a gangster. “Okay, it's not Ron” I took a sip of my tea feeling the heat go down my throat.

“Rio,” I told them.

“Okay,” Beth told me smiling.

“His name's Rio” I sat down next to Beth sipping my tea.

\---

I was shining the light in the dumpster looking for the receipt. The smell was disgusting I tried covering my nose as Beth was checking to see the receipt when she said no I went back to searching in this dump.

“He stole my receipt”

“I got played here” They both argued back and forth.

“No, you screwed a married guy” I looked up seeing the girls argue.

“How was I supposed to know that he was married?”

“Guys” I tried to stop it. I hated it when they argue.

“Maybe take one more minute of conversation before you drop your pants.” I tried pushing them apart.

“That’s enough”Ruby decided it was best for the sisters to hash this out.

"Are you slut-shaming me?"

“I'm just plain shaming you”

“I said that’s fucking enough” I barked, both of them stayed quiet. “Both of you guys should not be arguing right now. We have bigger problems like if we don’t find this damn receipt were gonna be animal food” I continued looking for the receipt, I picked up a receipt seeing it’s the one were looking for.

“Found it” I glared at both of them hopping down the dumpster and helping Ruby. When both of us got home Emma was waiting up for us.

“Hey bubba go back to bed mommy will go up in just a bit okay” She nodded her head climbing up the stairs. I took my jacket off trying to shed the excess weight when I felt my purse vibrate, I took my phone out to see who it was, when the screen was black I saw the other phone glow. I looked at the message seeing an address.

I waited until I heard the shower running before heading out. I snuck past the bathroom and left trying not to make a sound. When I pulled up into the loft it looked empty. Somebody knocked on my window guiding me to a dark alley to park my car. As soon as I parked it I tried spraying perfume to mask the smell of garbage from me with some hand sanitizer for added effect.

The place looked nicely decorated on the inside. They guided me into a room where another kid probably in his early twenties was clutching his leg.

“Ok what happened here,” I asked one of the guys, they all stood quietly.

“He overcompensated his charm in a deal and got shot” Rio appeared from the darkness. “Nothing special”

“Ok, so I’m gonna need wrapping bandage, cloth, alcohol 80% percent alcohol or higher please, water, something to stitch him with and gloves. Rio sniffed the room smelling something me obviously. “Don’t ask”

“You heard the lady” They all left grabbing the supplies for me as I tried checking out the wound.

Once the kid was out after I cleaned his wound all I needed left was to bandage him. Rio decided to come back once I was done. “They’re all so young” The kid couldn’t have been older than 23.

“This ain’t like the suburban life you princesses had where everything gets handed to you, some of us had to go out onto the streets to get what we wanted” I turned to Rio.

“Like you?” He scoffed stepping back a bit.

“It ain’t that easy”

“What is,” I asked him.

“Trying to find out about me” I finished wrapping the kid before heading out of the room.

“Don’t you live here?” It has Rio written all over it.

“Nah I work here” I was gonna ask him something else when my alarm rang.

“Shit is it already 6:30 I was helping him all night?” I touched my hair which smelt like puke. “I have to shower but I won’t make it in time to go to Beth’s shower and get to class on time. I looked at the bathroom across the hall. “Can I please shower here” Rio looked at me not sure how to answer. “Please, I have clothes in the car” Reluctantly he nodded in agreement letting me get my stuff before coming back upstairs to shower.

I washed away all the putrid smell of garbage off of me before I even stepped out. I got dressed quickly exiting the loft. From what it looked like Rio was gone before I even got out of the shower, I didn’t care

I got in my car driving to class. I made it in just the nick of time since the loft was farther from the school than Beth’s. Today we had labs having to stab a kid’s knee to get a bullet out this felt much more pleasant.

I had an hour free before another class would start. I got out my car to fix my trunk since it was messed from me searching for clothes. There were clothes scattered, books and everything. There was also a duffle bag; confused I opened it up in it was money with a little doodle of a needle. This is a lot of money my mouth hung open as I continued looking at it. I closed the trunk again smiling as I looked around to see any of his men.


	6. Taking Care of Business P.2

After getting a quick lunch I decided to head to the counselor to make my next payment. She wasn't here that day so I just gave it to the next woman who was in charge.

 

"How much will it be today darling," The lady asked me. 

 

"Another 15k" She nodded typing into her computer. Once I was done i headed back to my next class since I had15 minutes left when my phone started ringing instinctively I answered it.

 

“I messed up” I recognized that of being Beth’s voice.

 

“What did you do” I responded.

 

“Well the FBI showed me a picture of Rio and when I told him I didn’t know he was gonna show Dean and I could let that happen so I told him I didn’t know if maybe it was one of the guys you bring home at night” The last few words were high pitched almost like expecting for me to scream. Don’t get me wrong I was but something told me I shouldn’t so I took a deep breath before talking.

 

“Ok, so what’s the problem?”

 

“He wants to speak to you today” I sighed rubbing the bridge of my nose.

 

“I have to go back to class were not doing anything till I get home got it,” She said okay before hanging. So much for having that rest.

 

The last class I wanted time to speed up because I needed to go home. When he finally dismissed us I basically raced to the house, where Annie and Beth were waiting. They were in the kitchen but still not talking to each other. Annie was on her phone and Beth cooking something for the kids. Rios duffle was in the middle of the table.

 

“Is this his cash” Beth nodded.

 

“Yeah I’ll be taking it to him now” She grabbed the duffle ready to leave this room.

 

“No, I will” I snatched the bag from her. “No one is leaving this room until you hash things out the both of you. Annie was gonna say something to contradict me. “And so help me god if I come back and you guys are not peas in a pod I will murder you both” which ultimately silent her.

 

“You know for being the youngest sometimes you’re the scariest,” Beth said truthfully. I took Beth’s car since he was probably expecting it.

 

I parked in the parking lot waiting for him to arrive. Only about 10 minutes passed when the door opened showing a Rio. He grabbed the duffle from the armchair starting to count it.

 

“I’m assuming Beth told you” He nodded continuing to count the cash. “So what do I say?”

 

“To whom” I didn’t know if he was acting stupid.

 

“To the FBI what do I tell them?” My head was killing probably from the lack of sleep.

 

“They ain't got anything.”

 

“They've got a picture of you” I warned him. How wasn’t he taking this seriously?

 

“That ain't special,” He glanced at me “I'm on Facebook, too.” He had a wad of cash divided placing inside the armrest. “Your cut” He opened the door ready to get out.

 

“Wait, stop” He looked back before closing the door, now he was facing me

 

“Listen.” “In my line of work, if you don't have the FBI on your back, you ain't making noise.” I understood what he was getting at but I still didn’t know what to tell them.

 

“They're gonna want to know what someone like me,” I said pointing to myself before pointing to Rio “ is doing with someone like you” He gave me a look that for the first time my heart skipped a beat when talking to Rio and it wasn’t from fear.

 

“What are you doing with someone like me?” He scanned me letting his tongue wet his lips.

 

“We can’t tell them that now can we?” I thought of something quick.

 

“Right, right” He cleared his throat before continuing. “All right, so tell them I was hitting it” I froze for a second thinking about it. “Oh, sorry, sweetheart, Tell them we're making love” Now I was the one to scoff. The arrogant prick.

 

“How do i-“ He laughed opening the door.

 

“You'll think of something” He licked his lips one more time stepping out “Make me sound good though, yeah” I closed my eyes trying to cool off and relieve my headache.

* * *

 

I walked into the hospital a pink box in hand I interrupted the girls giving Ruby a hug. “How it going, sweetie”

 

“Good” She looked at the box “Those better be doughnuts do not come with me with some wack-ass cheese Danish. When she lifted the box revealing the cash she cried even more. “Those aren’t donuts.

 

“It’s our whole cut,” I told her. Annie got up hugging her from behind.

 

“We knew you need it for the hospital bill”

 

“We don’t want you to even think about it. Okay?” She gave a bear hug which resorted to all of us having a big group hug.

* * *

 

 

I entered the FBI’s office asking for an agent turner, when they directed me to his office I regretted walking into this building. “Ms. Marks. Lovely to finally meet you sorry for this type of meeting but I needed to ask you”

 

“That’s not a problem I’m happy to help” He pulled out a picture of Rio from the day of the birthday party.

 

“Do you know this man” I pretended to struggle to recognize the face.

 

I scoffed, “Yeah I invited Beth’s house once” “It was nice but then I never saw him again”

 

“Just out of curiosity, where'd you meet him? I'm just wondering where a nice woman like you meets an inner-city gangbanger” I was starting to get annoyed by that word.

 

“At a bar”

 

“What was he wearing?”

 

“Jeans”

 

“What about you”

 

“A dress,”

 

“Where'd you meet him?”

 

“Restaurant”

 

“You just said bar,”

 

“A bar-restaurant,” I told him. “They had food”

 

“What was the name?”

 

“Ricco’s”

 

“Who drove?” I knew how this was going and I didn’t prepare myself. “You or him, who drove,”

 

“Um, we both did”

 

“What kind of car does he drive”

 

“Black BMW”I remember by the amount of times id seen him drive it.

 

"It'd be registered, I'll check it"

 

“It might be a Cadillac”

 

“Goodbye, Ms. Marks” I got up heading to the door.  I screw all of us if I leave this room. I sat back down thinking about the story.

 

“I had just got in a fight with my sister about her jack ass of a husband and I needed to cool off so I went to Ricco I didn’t have class so I said what the hell. That’s where we met. We drank which it led to me inviting him to Beth’s”

 

“Where was your sister?” He asked me.

 

“She went to Annie’s for the day”

 

“And her husband?”

 

“Screwing that dumb blonde probably” I didn’t know where I was getting this confidence

 

“So we went back her place it was all empty so we drank more, I was a straight-A student my whole life never really went to parties so this was the most fun I’ve had In years. So we drank than I kissed him and he kissed me back” I was making this up as I went along.

 

“He ripped my panties and we screwed right there on the couch” I took a deep breath. “Then he left the house and I never saw him again and I don’t plan to”

 

“Thank you for coming in” I walked out walking as smoothly as possible until I got to my car.

 

“Jesus Christ” I let out the air that was trapped in my lugs."Did I just do that?"  I asked myself. I giggled to myself letting the beating of my heart calm down. I turned on the car heading back to Beth's. 

 

The kids were in bed and it was just Beth up now. "Hows Ruby?"I took off my jacket as I put my keys away. 

 

"Shes fine shes still at the hospital" I nodded grabbing a cup and serving myself some whiskey that Beth was drinking. "Hey I've been meaning to ask you, I was gonna wake you up today to take you to class but you were gone" I held my breath for a second trying to think of something. 

 

"Oh, my uh professor wanted us to go to class earlier since we had a lab didn't want us to be half asleep when dissecting an animal" I sipped my drink trying to cover my face so she cant see through me. 

 

"Oh ok, you must be exhausted than" 

 

"Yeah" I chuckled playing with my cup. "So you two made up," I asked changing the subject. 

 

"Yeah, the thought of you killing us if we didn't really got the conversation going" We both smiled. I walked up to Beth giving her a huge hug. 

 

"I just hate seeing you two argue" Beth rubbed my back reminding me of when I was little. 

 

"Let me the big sister from now on" I wish life could be that easy. I nodded to her saying goodnight before heading to bed. 


	7. A View from the Top

While Beth counted the money I went to the kitchen to make everybody coffee while I made myself tea. When I came back Ruby was talking about quitting.

“I say we get out” After giving everyone their drink I sat down next to Beth.

“Are you serious?” I was finally making a dent in my debt and if we get out of this I don’t know when I'll make a next payment plan. My little side business with Rio was very few. I haven’t gotten a text in 2 weeks the only steady income I have is this even if it's not that much not even coaching the soccer team is going well.

“We're risking everything including our lives. We barely see our families” She looked at the cash before throwing it on top of the table. “And for what?

“For the money” Beth argued back. Annie wiggled the cash in hand.

“It'd be one thing if we were making mad bank,” she said as she pointed to the money “But this? This isn't mad bank, you guys” She looked at all of us. “I say we cut our losses now before we get caught or shot” I can’t.

* * *

 

While Annie and Ruby talked I stayed quiet trying to find out a way to make everyone happy.

“There is no getting out,” Annie told Ruby.

“Outta what” Rio came out of nowhere with two guys walking behind him. This made all the girls quiet down. Why does it always look like he knows what’s going on inside someone’s head?

“But it’s now working for us,” Beth told him as she handed him the bag. He looked at the bag before asking how. I got up blocking Annie.

“We need more,” I told him. Beth looked at me smiling looks like she was gonna say the same. Annie grabbed my hand tugging it. Ruby whispered to me but I ignored it. Beth continued the chat.

“We've been clearing about, what? 100 grand every few weeks for you?” She turned to me a rhetorical question which I nodded too. “We're gonna need five times that amount to turn a profit and make it worth our time.” I love this Beth.

“You wanna clean 500 Gs?” He looked at me wanting me to answer.

 “We can do it,” I told him, Annie was tugging at my arm again. “Can we?”

“You don't get more time.” He had a smug look now, one I wanted to smack off.

“It's not a problem” I had to look like I knew exactly what we were doing, which I didn’t. When Rio loaded Beth’s cars with the bag he left. Once we got on the road ruby was the first to speak.   
  
“Are you two out of your damn mind” She was yelling at both of us looking at me through the rearview mirror.

“We needed more right well we got it now,” I told her.

“Yea more likely to get sent to the big house”

“You guys, we can do this” Beth was focusing on the road looking at ruby every few seconds. “We just need some extra hands” I turned to Beth learning this news right now.

“You can’t just ask me, people, nonchalantly if they want to be part of a life of crime” I knew was Beth was headed with this.

“What if they didn’t know,” I told Ruby. Once Beth explained to us what she was thinking Ruby was on board with it.

“I know you have class tomorrow we’ll tell you about the rest when you get out” I nodded to her once we got to the house I helped them organize the cash before going to bed.

 

* * *

 

As I was headed to my next class of the day the burner phone rang it was the same location as last time. I couldn’t go, I couldn’t miss a class I was on probation and it was too last minute to warn my professor. I cursed at myself and whoever it was that stupidly got injured in the morning. Ignoring the message I went to my next class.

When I got out of my class I headed to my car where Rio was waiting for me. I already knew what he was gonna say.

“You think you can pick and choose when you can play doctor” His shirt was lifted enough to show a hint of gold. To anybody else, it looked normal but I knew what that meant.

“I couldn’t miss class” I kept my eye on the gun.

“I’m sorry princess did we interrupt your fairytale” He was joking but you could hear the venom in the words.

“I’m on probation. One wrong move and they kick me out of the program” Rio stayed quiet “Meaning everything I went through for years is worthless” I went to my door going to open it but Rio slammed it shut again.

“This kid still needs you, we wrapped him the wound is still bleeding” Rio was towering over me but the way he spoke I wasn’t scared.

“I’ll go now” I didn’t look at him when I told him I still was staring at his gun. He left letting me enter my car now. I drive back to the loft to help the kid. They didn’t put the right amount of pressure which is why it kept bleeding, the kid was lucky the wound a little bit more to the right and it would’ve hit an artery and there would be nothing I could do to stop it.

“What did you mean you are on probation” Rio scared me; I was already getting used to the quietness. “I thought you suburban bitches lived for being perfect” 

“The scholarship that was funding me through Vet school shut down including all the money they gave past and present” I was cleaning up the area, wiping some of the blood and whatnot. “They weren’t sure if I was part of the scam so they marked me as high risk since I have a huge debt to pay. Hence one wrong move and I’m out of the program”

“So Lil Red isn’t so perfect?” He teased. I bit my lip trying to contain a smile since I had my back to him he didn’t notice. I wasn’t focusing I had scratched my hand with the needle.

I flinched trying to not make to many movements. Rio stepped forward seeing what happened.

“Everything is good here” I took a step back moving my hand to my back, I tilted my head to the kids direction focusing Rios attention to him. “he’s gonna need re bandaging in a couple of hours” The guy was sleeping, I gave him some pain pills to ease the pain for when I stitched him and I guess it made him sleepy. “You don’t need me for that and uh put more pressure next time” I left the loft heading back to Beth’s. When I entered the dinning room the girls were arguing about something.

“Hey what is going on here?”

“Tyler lost the merchandise” Beth shouted to me. “ 20,000 dollars worth of merchandise”

“I was saying to rob another store” Beth and Ruby yelled no at the same time. “But you see the problem”

“Were not gonna rob another store?” I told Annie.

“Hey, do you guys know what happens when they need to dump your body in an oil drum? They soak you in lye, and they make you into soup” She sat back down. “And then the cops can't tell if you used to be a human or a large dog”

“We don’t have to hear that”

“Then how are we supposed to get the money back” Beth looked at the receipts in the table before answering.

“We don't need the money. We just need the merchandise.” My sister is an evil genius. We all smiled at each other.

* * *

 

I stayed in the car with Ruby as the girls did the job. “I cant believe we are actually doing this” Ruby was being paranoid looking everywhere.

“Ruby relax, let's talk about something else. Hows Sara” Maybe if she doesn’t think about it she won't freak out.

“Shes better but I think she's feeling guilty”

“Poor girl, I know you got this” I rubbed her shoulder. She jumped when some kid knocked on the door. Ruby put the window down looking at the kid.

“My name is Randy” He was holding a bag of candy. “I'm raising money for our school trip”

“Go away.” I smacked Ruby in the shoulder smiling to the kid.

“Sure sweetie give me one” I went into my wallet looking for cash.

“Awesome, okay, it's three for $5 and six for $10. That's a way better deal”

“Okay give me six” I went past ruby going to her window to give the kid the ten. “You got caramel?” The kid nodded handing me six bars before leaving.

“What happened to you there” Ruby looked at the cut I gave myself earlier today at the Loft.

“Oh we had a lab today and I cut myself no biggie” I covered my hand before handing Ruby a chocolate bar. “Here have one” When the girls finally arrived we put the merchandise away trying to return them today for tonight for the switch.

 

Beth and I entered the house hearing Dean call her out. “Im gonna go shower, good luck” I gave her hand a squeeze before heading upstairs to shower. When I got out and got dressed I headed downstairs to see Dean still drinking. I went back upstairs seeing Beth get dressed.

“Dean knows about the car about everything” I went inside her room closing the door behind me. “He covered for us about the car” She scoffed looking at her shirt. “Sometimes I don’t know why I married that man”

“Sweetie” I gave her a hug playing with her hair. “Its okay”

“Come on we have to do the drop” I nodded following her to the car to pick up the girls.

* * *

 

As we waited for Rio we all decided to sit on the swings and have a bonding moment.

“20 years of marriage, Stan has never looked at me like that.”Ruby was the first one.

“Aw, honey, I'm so sorry,” Beth told her.

“Like, ever”

“At least he doesn't know everything.

“Dean does” The girls gasped.

“What,” Annie asked.

“He thinks I'm some naive idiot that got taken advantage of, so,” Beth muttered as she looked at the ground.

“Of course he does”I scoffed. The things Id do to that prick would send me straight to hell.  
“So what are you gonna do about it”  
  
“ Let him think it.”

Rio came with his usual goons following behind him. Beth got up giving him the bag. One of his men carried it to the table starting to count it, while he sat down and looked at his phone. I was the next one to get up to look at him

“Let me ask you something” I don’t know why I was asking it but every time a struggle came up he was cool, calm and collected. “How do you not get caught?”

“School ain't in session right now,” He told me before going back onto his phone.

“Hey, come on, we just cleaned $1/2 million for you” He looked back up thinking about it for a few seconds before standing up to walk to me.

“I flip my game.” I looked at the girls to see if they understood but they looked just as lost as me.

“What does that mean,” I asked him

 “It means I flip my game” Yea still don’t know.

“Uh, she knows all those words individually but not, like, in a row”

Say we talking herb. Now, you can move nickel bags all day long nickels move fast 'cause everybody knows the nickel bag man, right?” He looked at his boys to get a confirmation before looking at us again. “That's why his dumb ass is always getting popped now, the smart ones, they turn nickels into dimes. Dimes get you the pills and now you moving up the chain before anybody knows what's going on you're onto TVs and whatnot.

“And while they all got their back turned, I'm over here with a bunch of suburban bitches selling Monopoly money” He stared at me directly.

“We'll see where that takes me.” His boy came up with the bag.

”Your cut” He gave it to me “It's all there” “Let's say 750 next time”

“Why,” Beth asked.

“Cause you delivered”

* * *

 

We all went to a restaurant to celebrate. Beth held her cup lifting it.

“eight months  - and we're out” We all ooed before giggling. “By then, we will have enough money for all of Sara's medication and any extra medical fees. We will have more than enough for your custody lawyer, your student debts will be paid and my bank accounts will be in the black” She took a sip of her drink before continuing. “And We will have a honeypot”

“What's the honeypot for?” Ruby asked smiling.

“We invest in something legit.” She told us “And that's our safety net so no matter what happens, we don't have to rob a grocery store again.”

“You know what that’s called right?” I told her.

“We just flipped our game”We all cheered drinking our own drink. At that moment it felt we could see the end of this drama.


	8. Special Sauce

“Do you think she is way too into it?” I asked Beth.

“A little but let's let her have it” We giggled taking a sip of tea as Annie started chanting the word Receipts. Once the whole crowd left the girls stayed cleaning up the mess the crowd created.

“How much did we make?” A smiled, totaling up the cash.

“Shoppers be shopping” The girls waited anticipating for me to tell them.

\---

Beth and I went to a jewelry store to look at some jewelry. Beth fell in love with a necklace. When the lady came she surprised Beth. 

“14-karat, emerald cut, white gold” She knew she probably got Beth hooked.

“It's so beautiful” She wasn’t lying it's gorgeous.

“It would look stunning on you,” She told Beth. “With that skin”

“How much?” She asked.

“$1,100.” I whistled at the price, that’s a hefty penny. Beth peered at me

“Get something for yourself”

“Nah I cant I have the debt thing”

“Splurge on yourself, just a little” I smiled sheepishly staring at the necklaces. “Can you help her choose something” The lady glanced at me before heading to another stand.

“I know the perfect one” She grabbed one putting it on me. I turned to Beth showing it to her who had her mouth open. “Does it not look beautiful on her” I turned to the mirror seeing it dangle on my neck. It was incredibly beautiful.

“We’ll take it,” She told the lady.

\--

We were watching Real Housewives of New York City when it cut to commercial. Beth turned to us looking at me. I drank my wine before turning to.

“okay you guys” She took a sip of her wine. “We did something” II smiled at the horror in the girl's faces.

“What did you do” Asked Annie

“Tell me there's not another man in that tree house”

“No nothing like that” Both of us looked at each other before getting up. “Wait here” We skipped to her room to get the necklaces I helped her put her on and she helped me put mine.

“We want you guys to be honest, Kind of love it, but maybe it's over the top” We walked outside looking at the couch seeing both of them gone.

“Not over the top at all” I was the first to turn around seeing Rio holding his gun. Behind him, the men had their guns on Ruby and Annie. Rio stood up pushing Beth to the side before grabbing my neck pulling me close to him. “What is it, is that diamond cut” He put his gun on my chest looking at the necklace.

“Please put down the gun” I tried to be calm but you could hear my voice quiver.

“How much of my money did that set you back?” He studied my necklace before looking at me in the eye putting more pressure on the gun.

“This isn't your money,” I told him. I didn’t know if it was him or me but I kept shifting closer to him.

“Oh, see, but it is” I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“What are you doing? I thought we were past this”

“Me too” There was a flicker in his eye that told me he wasn’t just feeling mad but also cheated.”But you bitches just keep stealing from me” We found out that we had some problems with one of the ladies so we planned on doing a stakeout to catch her. 

Once I got back from classes I was getting ready to help the girls with the stakeout. As I was leaving the door I got a message from the burner. There was not address but just the word “Now” I assumed they wanted in the same place so I sent a text to the girls that I couldn’t make it before heading to the Loft.

“Who is it this time?” I asked the guy with the tattoo eyebrow. He only stayed quiet as he walked me to the room. When I opened the door Rio was in the bed holding on to his lower abdomen.

“Me” He still had his shirt on but the wound was bleeding through.

“Jesus Christ” the supplies were already set on the table by the number of times I asked for it. “What happened”

“Nothing just do your job” He was snappier than usual then again the night before he held a gun to me and accused us of cheating him 100 grand so I didn’t take it personally. “I didn’t even need you but the boys insisted” I turned to tattoo brow who had his head down.

“Im glad they did, you still suck at putting pressure” I removed his hand cleaning up the dried up blood while putting pressure on the wound. He flinched when I poured some alcohol.

“unless you want to see your boss naked I suggest waiting outside the door. I promise he won't die” They looked at each other before nodding their heads and leaving the room.

“I need to be naked?” He asked me.

“Not really but they made me nervous just standing there and looking” I smiled. “I do need your shirt off” He tried but every time he lifted his arm he would wince in pain. “Here let me do it” He shoved me away trying again.

“Hey, out there youre the boss but right here I am” Both of us were surprised by my little outburst. He stayed quiet letting me lift his shirt. Under his shirt he had even more tattoos, it took me a second to stop ogling at him and focus on the wound.

Once I stopped the bleeding I grabbed a needle to stitch him up “This is gonna hurt so fair warning” He nodded preparing for the pain. I motioned him to stand up before starting. Once he used to it I tried to make small talk. “So are you gonna tell me what happened or you still gonna pout”

“You love to snoop don’t you” When he didn’t see me budge he continued. “ Someone decided to try to take my place” When he saw my face he added. “You should see him” I smiled continuing with the stitching. Only he makes me smile about violence.

The warmth he was radiating drew me forward. I kept trying to shake it off thinking I was doing anyone else. “Hows your rotten egg”

“Were handling it” He scoffed smirking at me. He winced when I pierced him close to the edge. “Don’t tell me big boss is a big baby” Once I finished his stitching I grabbed wrapping bandage.

“Watch it” I smiled starting to wrap his lower abdomen. The tattoos almost covered his whole body but if you paid close attention you could see some healing scars he tried covering up.

Out of instinct, I touched one of them making him grab my wrist pulling it away from his chest but somehow pulling me closer to him. The sudden speed made me gasp before stiffening. “Your straying to close to the fire Lil Red”I don’t know if he said that to me or to himself by the way he was looking at me.

“Im sorry” I cleaned the place up before leaving. “Try not to get stabbed anymore” I left getting in the car before heading back the Beths. When I got there the girls were about to confront our little rotten egg.

“Okay, lets go,” I told them getting my keys.

“No, I need you to wash the money to give to Rio” I looked at them like they were crazy.

“I can not wash 100 grand in 6 hours”

“No sorry, its only 15 the secret shoppers did the rest” Beth gave me a hug thanking me before leaving. When I finished doing the remainder of the washing I went home to prepare the money.

Dean came up to me “I need you to talk to Beth shes in the bathroom but somethings wrong” I dropped the bag heading upstairs to her bathroom. The bathroom was steamed up while Beth was laying on the floor.

“She found out” She looked disgusted. “And wants 10k every month” I let beth rest her head on my shoulder. “Ruby is gone” I looked at her asking what she meant. “With everything shes done”

“We will figure this out”

“I have to go meet Rio” I shushed her petting her.

“Let me do it, you go to bed” I give her a kiss on the head before helping her to bed. Once she laid down I got into the car meeting at the drop.

When I got there Rio was waiting there already. I got out of the car walking up to him. “Shouldnt you be resting” He smirked putting his head down. “Its all there and its all real” I gave him the bag.

He licked his lips before talking. “So who was it?”

“You got your money” I put my hands in my coat.

“Yeah, I'm also gonna need a name.” Even if she was evil she didn’t deserve Rios handling.

“I took care of it.” 10k a month taking care of it.

“Come on” I knew he wasn’t gonna give it up. “Just give me a name” he tried convincing me to give it up.

“Lil Red” He snickered nibbling at his bottom lip.

“Hmm. Now let me give you some advice, yeah? When you got a rotten egg in the bunch, it stinks up the whole lot till you get rid of it” Don’t I know it.

“Like I said, I'm handling it”I walked back to the car opening the door. “And don't ever point a gun at me again” I closed the oor behind me.


	9. Shutdown

Beth ran to my room panting and hyperventilating. “The money it’s gone” I woke up confused on what was happening. “Our money is gone” I ripped the covers off running to my dresser. I waited until Beth left to check my hidden drawer. The money was gone all gone how did he enter my room without me noticing. I checked in my closet for my other half of the money. It was all there. Why did he only take some? I texted from the burner phone saying we needed to meet, it was only ten minutes later that he sent me an address. I got dressed heading out there saying bye to Beth.

  
“Why did you take my money?”

He groaned” My money, mine” He eyed me before continuing to eat. “We're gonna be shutting things down for a while”.

“What does that even mean?” I asked him. He looked around lowering his voice.

“One of my associates got picked up” He shook his head sitting up. “When I feel heat, I don't mess around”

“My bad do you want some?” How he could turn from a scary gangster to a sweet person. 

"No" I responded.

"You sure? They put they put the hash brown on the inside of this thing"

“I don't understand” I shook my head not understanding.

“Me neither, like And they're still so crispy.”

“No, I'm talking about the shutdown”

“Mm Yeah Yeah, you closed for business” There wasn’t gonna be a better time to ask.

“Why did you only take half of mines but all of the girls?”

“Because the other half was our little side business” He took another mouthful of his food before wiping his mouth.

“So that deal is still on?”

“Yeah you don’t want to back down now right Lil Red” He teased truthfully I was getting used to the nickname.

“What about the girls,” I asked him.

“It's a company-wide shutdown,” He said taking another bite.” And if I got closing costs, everybody feels the pain”

“You can't just mess with people's lives like that!” I still had to defend the girls.

“You want to know what I can't do. I can't do five to fifteen in FCI Milan 'cause some bitches need their pocket money” He stood up taking out some cash.

“It’s not like that” When he ignores the statement I asked for how long. “How long are we shut down?”

“Till further notice” He dropped the cash for the meal tapping on my shoulder before leaving.

* * *

 

After the whole discussion we had decided to go legit for a while until the business was opened again but since my talk with Rio I’ve only had one more job and things went silent. My honeypot was running awfully low and I’ve heard no words so far. Ruby was counting the money that we made in the month.

“2300,” She said dropping the last bill.

“That’s it?” Beth asked her.

 “It's all I can spare right now.” Annie agreed with her.

“I can try and squeeze a tiny bit more out of Dean,” She told us. I’ve been working double for the little league, there’s a game coming up and I was nominated to coach it. “I'm getting an allowance again.” I already knew but it was the first for the girls. “Don't look at me like that, he offered it and I took it”

“Yea I could probably put in the game's payment,” I told them. “I mean, do you think she'll take it?”

 “She'll take it and she'll like it” Ruby put the money inside the yellow envelope before heading out.

* * *

 

I was at the game trying to help out the kids. Sara was sitting on the bench looking to the game. I sat down next to her nudging her little.

“How are you feeling” She glanced at me before putting her head down.

“Not so great” She was twiddling her fingers trying to entertain herself.

“You sure you don’t want to get out there,” I told her pointing to the field.

“I don’t want to cost us the game” I faced her holding her hand.

“Sweetie this game is to have fun no competition” She stood quiet her frown still present. “But if you’re really not up to it that’s fine how about helping me, coach?” I asked her. She smiled looking up at me. I smiled back grabbing her hand before going back to my spot. I looked into the bleachers seeing Mary Pat speaking to Ruby. I’ve known ruby a long amount of time to know she was upset.

“Hey sweetie I’ll be right back I’m gonna go talk to mommy really quick, you know what to do here right” There was a backup coach sitting by the sidelines but Sara didn’t have to know that. When Ruby saw me I signaled her to go to the back of the bleachers, she nodded saying something to Stan before leaving.

“What did she want,” I asked her.

“The bitch is threatening us to Stan” I rubbed my head feeling the migraine come.

“I would like to shove 10k up that” I stopped myself before I said anything. “Do you think she’ll actually do anything?”

“Maybe” I put my head down trying to keep a low profile. “It wasn’t a simple threat” I wouldn’t be going to no college in jail.

“Let me handle it,” I told her.

“What are you gonna do,” She asked me. I didn’t know but I couldn’t go down for this. I left her in the bleachers going back to the game where Sara was smiling yelling at the kids.

“You’re a natural” I teased her making her smile.

After the game, I headed back home to grab something before going to Mary’s Pat. The home was cluttered everything was a mess. When she opened the door she greeted me letting inside. “Sorry about the mess the kids are unorganized” You could say that.

“Listen, Mary Pat, our business is closed were not even making money for ourselves how do you expect us to pay you” I tried convincing her to give us some time.

“It’s no problem” She smiled at me. “I’ll just talk to the cops” she nodded to herself. The woman was psycho. I reached into my purse grabbing the bag before throwing it at her.

“20k for this month and next month and a little extra for you to get by” Shocked she opened the bag seeing the bills. “The next time you see the girls you tell them that you were sorry for what you said and that you’ll let it slide next month” Mary covered her mouth putting the bag down.

“What if I don’t,” She told me. I approached her until I was in front of her.

“If you tell them about our little meeting I will bring corporate to speak to you” I threatened her. She got the picture because her face ran pale before taking a step back. “Goodbye Pat” I left her home going back to Beth’s.    

* * *

 

I entered the spa looking at my surroundings before grabbing a robe. I greeted a lady who walked past me entering the room. everyone was so involved with themselves I entered the private room with ease. I grabbed a bag showing all the liquid bottles that I could fit in there in a matter of 2 minutes. Once I had everything I left the spa driving the car to the location we were meeting up in.

The deal went wrong so now we're back at home trying to figure out what to do with the hundreds of bottles in our cars. 

“Easy peasy” I muttered to myself mimicking Annie.

I would never say "easy peasy” She stood up from the couch. “So sue me, I didn't know it would come down to drug dealer semantics”

“There is a difference between injectables and injecting heroin” Beth argued with Annie.

“Well, this is how we learn”

“I can't believe you made us do this for nothing,” Ruby told her. We were all just being petty about losing this deal.

“Oh, I made you? That's rich coming from you, Ms. "I ain't askin" She looked at Beth. “you, with your judge-y face that I can feel from here, I cannot! 'Cause we all know that this month has been killing you”

“It has not” I smiled at Beth's denial.

“Oh! You've been crawling out of your skin like a frog in a slow boil, baby” I joked around. Beth looked at Ruby for help but ruby laughed.

“She's not wrong”

“Oh, great. You too? Pile it on”

"Oh, it's all so banal, the PTA, the playdates, the yoga! Each day, the flame grows a little hotter"

“She's been missing that hood life!” Ruby shouted. We all erupted into a fit of giggles.

“Don’t act all innocent you have been too” Annie pointed to me.

“What me?” I smiled.

“Oh yeah but I think she misses more…”Ruby leaned to Annie. “RIOOOO” they both teased.

“You guys are idiots,” I told them all. "It's not true"

“Right?” Annie stood up from the couch. “Peace”

“Whoa, whoa, wait, you're just gonna leave us here with this?” I said signaling to the bags.

 “You know what? I did my part.”She grabbed her jacket

“You handle this” Annie left the house leaving us to think about what to do with the bottles.

 

* * *

 

The sound of beeping woke me up from my beautiful slumber. It was a text from Rio, I snuck out of the house trying to make little to no sound once I got outside I got into my car driving to the loft. I parked in the alley before entering the place.

“Who's the lucky guy” I sarcastically said. When they opened the door, there was a girl this time probably my age clutching her hand.

“She had a bit of” Rio walked into the room surprising me. “An argument with another lady”

“Wheres the other lady?”

“We had to put her in the other room” I raised my eyebrows walking to the girl, this doesn’t look like they need my help but hey a payday is a payday. I grabbed her hand examining it, she was quite the fighter this one.

“Maybe a few stitches but nothing bad” Rio smirked pointing me to the other room. I followed him to the other room opening the door presenting the second girl. I took a step back before regaining myself. Her whole face was bashed up pretty bad and she was missing chunks of hair.

 “Remind me to never mess with that girl,” I told him pointing to the other girl. I decided to focus on this girl first since she was worst.

She kept wincing every time I applied alcohol to her wounds. “I need you to sit still” I scolded her, the girl muttered something in Spanish before staying quiet. Rio was sitting across the room watching me work. The only lighting in the room was a lamp hanging from the roof.

“So hows your rotten egg” He questioned me. How did he know we were having problems with her.

“What do you mean?” I asked him for playing stupid.

“Your sister came to me today” Of course it'd be Beth to ask Rio for help, I glanced at him before focusing on the girl.  

 “I handled it,” I told him as I fixed some of the girls wound.

“She got you into something didn’t she” It wouldn’t hurt letting him know its not like he knows who it is.

“She threatened to expose us” Maybe I should let him handle it she seems to not care about us.  “I took care of it though” Shes just doing it for her kids.

“You paid to keep that mouth shut didn’t you” From the way he spoke he was irritated. My silence was his response. “Shes just gonna be problems”

“Let her be my problem than” I fired back, I started the stitching by her mouth so I couldn’t speed this through.

He scoffed coming closer. “Listen Lil Red let me give you some advice. This crime life you think you know. Youre barely scratching the surface” The girl looked between us confused she probably only saw him as the threatening boss lord. “Just because you think youre a boss doesn’t mean you are and you'll never be until you get your stuff fixed” He's phone started ringing stopping the conversation. He looked at the phone answering it leaving the room.

She started snickering looking at me. “La gringa le gusta” I stared at her confused before continuing the stitching. When he was done on the phone he came back into the room just in time to see me call in the next girl. While we were alone I got to thinking about his wound.

“How’s your wound,”I asked him as I picked up the area.  

“Don’t try to change the subject” He told me.

“I'm trying to make sure your wound is not infected” When he didn’t say anything I grunted lifting up his shirt. The wound was getting better and he was wrapping the bandage better. “Well, it's not infected” I put his shirt down as the next girl came in.

“You already know what im gonna say” He left me alone with the other girl so I could stitch her up. When I was finished with her I came out to the living room seeing Rio through the window of an office I was about to enter it when one of Rios men stopped me.

“No ones allowed in there,” He told me before handing me a briefcase. “Your cash” I looked one more time grabbing the bag before heading out.

* * *

 

I followed Beth behind her as we entered Mary Pat's house. The door was opened so we let ourselves in seeing Pat in the kitchen. Her energy changed when she saw me hoping Beth didn’t notice I walked in front of her greeting Beth.

Beth handed her a yellow bag with the 10k, Mary Pat grabbed the 10k opening it to see the inside. “It's all there” She looked up at me before laughing.

“Im sorry about what I said especially to Ruby in front of her husband It's just, um, Jeff left me with, like, a mountain of debt, so I have literally nothing to lose”

“Now you do. If we get caught, you're going down, too. I think it's called an accessory” Beth told her. Mary Pat looked down at the baby before continuing.

“Yea im sorry about that, you don’t have to pay next month I know you ladies are struggling so I won't have to pressure you” Mary Pat looked at the envelope before handing it back to Beth. “I cant accept it”

Beth turned to me bewildered. “Why not”

“Just keep it. I could manage with what you ladies gave me the first time” Beth handed her a diaper for the baby.  “Good luck girls” Pats eyes landed on me as she continued. “There are dangerous things out there” I followed Beth out the home heading to her car.

“What was that?” I shrugged opening the door. “You think Rio found out who it was” She opened her door entering the car.

“She would not be here if Rio “talked” to her” Beth nodded agreeing with me. “Maybe shes just realizing we couldn’t handle it”

“It's just so odd her point of view changes in only couple of hours” She questioned herself.

“Let's just be happy about it” We backed out of the driveway heading home. “Who knows when we'll get another job”


	10. Summer of the Shark P.1

Beth got a call from Rio that we had a new job to meet up at a loading dock. When we arrived there were guys everywhere hauling boxes into the storage room. We all got out when we saw Rio exit one of the storages.

“Y'all ready to be back in business or what?” We walked behind him. I tried taking a peek at what was inside when he noticed he stood in front of it blocking my view.

“What do you have in mind?” Beth asked.

“Just need you to go pick up a truck for me,” He told her.

“In Canada”

“No” he stopped walking turning to us. “Right here parked in a garage off I-75”

“What's in it?” I asked him.  

“Yeah, you ain't got to worry about that”He put his hand in his pockets. “Just go get it, and we're good to go”The girls looked worried Beth took a step forward. “I thought Y'all would be more excited than this” He looked at me, he knows I need this job. “But, hey, if you don't need to get back to work then” He was starting to leave” I stopped him before he left.

“Oh, we do. We do.” I told him.

“There's something we need to talk about though” If beth talks everything will be over.

“Yeah, uh, none of us drive stick,” I told him stopping Beth. “I mean, everything's automatic, so I just never learned” Annie and Beth looked at me like I was crazy but Ruby urged me to keep talking. “I don't know about you guys, but You know what? It'll be fine. Problem solved.”

“Problem not solved though because there's the other problem which is a much bigger problem”

“Are you bitches trying to do this or not?” Rio snapped.

“Where the keys” He smiled handing me the keys. Ruby pulled the girls away probably to convince them to let us do the job.

“Excited aren’t we Lil Red” He teased me.

“Us being put on hold really made a dent in my debt,” I told him truthfully. He gave me the keys before leaving. I followed the girls out

* * *

 

 

“Look, I'm pretty sure the cops don't know anything about a truck” I wanted to believe in Ruby hell I needed to believe in her

“All right,” I told her.

“Who's gonna drive? Let's draw straws?” Beth asked.

“I always lose at that” Annie put her hand down playing with her cup. “What about rock paper scissors?”

“We can't do that with four people,” Beth told her

“Why not?”

“What if we all drove” They looked at me like if I had three heads. “Think about it four trucks if the cop sees we have a higher chance of getting away with it”

“Ok fine whos driving the real one,” Ruby asked.

“I will”

“No way” Beth stopped me. “No” She crossed her arms something she did a lot when she turned into mom.

“Beth im not a little kid anymore. I can take care of myself”

“No youre going with me then but youre not doing this alone “

* * *

 

The next day we all got into the trucks driving to the location. I sped up the truck letting Annie go in front of me and Beth behind me.

“So far so good ladies,” I told them. We were joking around about a movie when I noticed a cop car behind us. “Guys”

“What?” Im pretty sure Annie was the one that spoke.

“There's a cop behind us,” I told them. My skin became very pale as I tried to keep my cool

“Okay. Okay. Just relax” Told Ruby.

“Yeah, that's easy for you to say you're not the one hauling a truckload of life sentences here” Beth didn’t mean to snap at her but she was stressed.

“Make a turn,” I told Beth. Which they all agreed on.

“Lose that sucker” Annie made it sound like we were gonna pull a baby driver and do a speedy getaway.

“Don't lose him just go slow and chill see if he follows” Beth okayed making the right turn.

“What's up? He's still there?” Asked Annie. When we saw he was still following us I called to the girls.

“Just keep it together. We got you” Ruby told me

“You guys have to help Dean with the kids,” She told them. With her free hand, she grabbed my hand squeezing it. “He can't do it alone. and I don't want him marrying a bimbo.”

“Oh, he's 100% gonna marry a bimbo”Annie tried to make a joke out of it.

“No bimbos around my kids. Monday's pizza day. The kids don't need lunch. Dance Tuesday same as the math tutor. The dentist appointments are in the refrigerator. Trash and recycling go out Wednesdays.”

The sirens came on so we pulled over. “I love you girls so much but I gotta go” Beth wiped the tear that was leaving my eye before hanging up on them. The police officer knocked on the window

“Is there a problem, officer?” Beth managed to keep her cool as the officer looked around the truck.

“Driver's license and registration” I went into the cabinet grabbing the papers before handing them to her.

“I hope we weren’t speeding we've been rushing around like crazy all day” she tried to make light conversation.

“Why's that,” She asked us.

“Um. A little bit of a domestic situation. Not a good guy, you know? Had to get out of there as quickly as possible. #TimeIsUp, am I right?” The lady continued looking at the registration.

“This your truck?”She asked her

 “I borrowed it” Why didn’t we read the registration before giving it to her. “From a friend who's helping me with the domestic thing” The lady's face didn’t change which put me even more at unease “are we in trouble here?

“First off, you're driving without a license plate” How did we not check. Why didn’t they check that?

“My friend's a little bit of a mess too” she tried joking.

“What's her name again?” The officer asked her.

“Sorry?”

“The friend who loaned you the truck?”

“Oh, it's more of a friend of a friend.”

“I need you both to get out of the car.” Both of us got out following her to the back of the truck.

“You got a key to this lock?” That’s it there was no way we were getting out of this

“It must be one of these” Beth took out a fake set of keys pretended to open the lock “That's weird” She went to the back of her car opening the truck to see some bolt cutters. When we walked back to the truck she looked at Beth one last time before opening the truck.

When we saw the truck empty both of us had a sigh of relief

“Sorry to bother you ladies have a nice day” Both of us got back in the truck laughing the unease off” Beth turned on the truck continue the drive to the location.

* * *

 

When we arrived at the location Rio got out walking towards the truck. Beth parked the truck slamming the door before walking to Rio

“I just got pulled over”

“So?”

“So we barely talked ourselves  out of being arrested”

“For driving an empty truck?” He raised his eyebrows trying to make it look like we were crazy

 “Why didn't you do it yourself? Why did you need us to bring you an empty truck” I told him.

“I had a kid  The Feds turned him,” He told me.

“So this is a test?” She told him. 

"Needed to know if he talked," he said as he went down the steps. "I guess he didn't"

"And now we're back in business" Beth raised her voice pulling me forward to her. 

"You're catching on" What he didn't know was that this wasn't good. Beth has anger problems. "Give me the keys.

“I have a family. I have children.” He took his hand out waiting for the keys.

"Yeah, you love telling me that, huh?"

 If you think you can use me like a worm on a hook so that you don't get caught”He cut her off walking closer to her.

“ I ain't got time to hold your hand through this give me the keys.” Beth in rage threw the keys at his face hitting his cheek. It left a mark that was gonna be visible in minutes. He checked to see if he was bleeding before grabbing the keys. I walked towards him trying to help but he stopped me.

He moved towards Beth until he was right in front of her. “That family you're always talking about? Go home to 'em what me and you had is done. Over”

“You can't just fire us,” Beth told him.

“You think I need you? Ain't nothing but a damn charity case to me” He stared at me when he said it. Charity case my ass.

“We need the money” Beth tried reasoning with him but I knew that it was over.

“And I need more of your bitch-ass drama like I need a hole in my head” He looked at both of us  Go home.

What do you mean, you had a kid? What happened to him? What's that you're always saying about your rotten eggs and how you have to handle 'em?

“Go home.” He said opening the door.

“I don't see how you're gonna let me do that. Is it gonna be you? Or do I come home one day and your boys are in my kitchen?” Would he do that, kill us?

“Both of you. Go home” He looked at me before opening the door to the warehouse. I started walking up the steps following him.

“What are you doing let's go” I ignored her. “Hey come on” She yelled at me.

“You go ill find my way back on my own” I turned around yelling at her. She had lost my only chance and paying off everything. I opened the door entering this small white hallway.

He was at the end of the hall when he turned around seeing me. “I said go home” He came towards me.

“I almost got arrested,” I told him.

“Do you think im an idiot to actually risk you, bitches, to get arrested” He spat to me.

“How do you expect for us to know anything when you're secretive with everything” I yelled to him back. “How did it affect you! if we knew about the test”

“Why you need to know everything,” he told me.

“Why don’t you say anything” I shoved him out of spite or maybe fear but I didn’t know what to do. He pushed me up against the wall trapping me.

“Why do you love to push things” He slammed his fist to the wall next to me. Why I was no longer scared bewildered me. He was so close to me his breath cooled my warm cheeks.

I looked at his face seeing the mark of the keys start forming on his cheek.  I touched it feeling the small bump while going through his stubble. We both locked eyes and I don’t think either of us was mad anymore. Rio leaned in closer. I held on to my breath waiting for something, something in Rio clicked cause he stopped mid-way.

He licked his lip partially opening it before speaking, “Go home Lil Red”.

“What about our deal?” He ignored me walking away. I slid down the wall letting the tears flow out.


	11. Summer of the Shark P.2

When I finally got to Beth's she was laying down on the couch while to girls searching through the laptop. My body aches from the walk but I mostly felt emotionally exhausted. Ruby and Annie were looking up at me before continuing on the screen.

“I don't see anything about a dead gang kid” They were trying to see for a body. Maybe to see how they "handled that kid. It was weird only a few weeks I saved that kid and now in Rios world, he's "handled".

“You're sure he's coming for us,” Ruby asked Beth.

“We know too much now” Beth seemed more out of it than I was. “He'd be an idiot not to” I don’t think so. She sat up taking a drink of her whiskey.

“I mean, homie has made this threat before,” Annie told her.

“I'm telling you, it's different.” She sat up looking at them. “We're no good to him now.”How could he get rid of us that easily?

“He said the actual words?” No, he didn’t. It was like I wasn't even in the room I talked to him too but I was nothing.  
“He just looked at me funny.” He was hurt even felt betrayed I would.

I zoned out thinking about tonight, my head was killing me. “Cant you do something” They looked at Beth. She shook her head looking at me. I didn't even want to speak they would notice I cried from my voice.

“Im tired im gonna go shower” I threw my jacket at the table before climbing upstairs. I heard them whispering about me but I didn’t really care I wanted this night to be over. After I showered I grabbed the burner looking at it the whole night praying I get something. When I woke up the next day and saw nothing I cursed at myself.

Somebody knocked on my door scaring me, I hid the phone in time for Beth to enter. “Were all outside if you want to come” She nodded before leaving. Did I really want to go out there? They were still my best friends. I got up getting dressed and going outside with a cup of coffee in hand. It was mostly silent as we watched the kids play outside. I mainly just stared at my drink not really in the mood to drink.

“Maybe we should turn ourselves in” Annie was the first one to speak. I turned to her she looked like she hasn’t slept, none of us really did but you know.

“You want to go to the cops?”Ruby told her. It was weird, Annie being the one to mention cops.  
“I know, I know” Annie was just looking at the ground

“Now you want to go to the cops?”She added.  
“We'll go to jail, Annie,” Beth told her.

“Well, it's better than waiting to be murdered in some gnarly way that I haven't even thought of yet” No he won't.

“We got the call,” Ruby said to no one in particular. “What if it goes to someone else?”

“All those fairy tales they told us when we were little girls? The morals were always if you're good and if you follow the rules, if you don't lie and you don't cheat, if you're good, you'll get good things” Those fairytales were bullshit. “And if you're a dick, you get punished but what if the people who made up those stories are the dicks”

“Are you following her?” Ruby looked at both of us. I shook my head while Annie said: “Mm, mas o menos”.

“What if the bad people made all that up so the good people never get anything good?” What was going on in her head?

“And now I'm lost.” Same here sister.

“What's the takeaway?” Ruby asked.

“It doesn't matter what we've done, we're the good guys” uh oh. “He's the criminal here” I mean he is. “He's the one who should be in jail.”

“Not us” It was leader Beth now but what she was implying was scaring me.

“That's what I'm talking about”

“Right?”

“Hell to the yeah right.”Annie was just egging Beth on.

“Then let's put him there.”Ruby finally added. My whole body went rigid thinking about betraying him. I stopped the group before anything more was being said.

“Guys less than 36 hours ago we needed him and now you guys want to put him away because he said a couple of things?” Why am I defending him

“He's trying to kill us” Beth chimed in.

“No one knows that all because of a look” I scoffed at her.

“Yes I know him enough to know that look,” Beth said. No, you don’t. I checked my phone seeing the time.

“I have to go to class, ill see you guys later,” Stupid probation, why couldn’t I stay and sleep. I didn’t even shower I just wanted to be done with it and be alone. When I entered the class the professor started the lesson right away.

  
I managed to stay in the streets till 4 but at one point I had to go back home. When I got there the house was quiet, no Dean, no kids, no Beth. Weirded out I went to my room. The light was on from when I walked in. I opened the door seeing Beth in my bed, my cash out all over my bed.

“You snooped in my room” I ran to my bed putting my money away. I had a lump on my throat that didn't want to go down.

“Where did you get this” She questioned me. Beth was mad she hadn't been this mad at me since I came home one day her car wrecked and I wasted at 19.

“Who the fuck gave you the authority to snoop in my room, im not a little kid anymore” She grabbed my hand pushing me away from the money she blocked the bag so I couldn't do anymore hiding.

“When you decided to defend him” she took out the burner from her pocket having it opened. “Are you sleeping with him? I scoffed at her looking outraged.

"obviously not,” I told her. There were no messages except a few come now or different addresses.

“The cryptic texts and the money. What kind of deal are you doing with him” She shouted?

“Its none of your business anyways” I spat. The whole house was quiet only the sounds of our yelling brought noise I wonder what she did to get the family out.

“Youre making my business because if youre involved with him in any way youre getting arrested too,” She told me. I wasn't sure if that was a threat or a warning.

“Than don’t put him in jail”

“What kind of deal are you doing” She stopped yelling but her voice was still laced with venom. I gave up deciding to tell her there was no way shed let me out of her right now.

“If one of his goons need help or are injured I offered to help,” I told her my voice becoming dry.

“Why” Her voice lowered into barely a hush.

“Cause I need the cash” I wiped the tear that was stuck

“You don’t have to pay your debt all at once it could be done bit by bit” She tried reasoning.

“No, it can't” I had tears falling now. “Next semester if I don't have most of it paid they're kicking me out the program and I lose all the credit I earned. Our business wasn’t enough I needed more to make a somewhat dent,” I told her. She gave me a pitying look before hugging me.

“He roped you into it more than you needed to be, we're putting him away we got a plan” I looked at her confused. “I don't know yet bet were gonna figure this out” My heart started racing as she told me.

“But i-I” I wanted to tell her no im not gonna be apart of this but my throat was stuck.

“Don’t worry we're not dragging you in this” She gave me a kiss on the forehead before leaving. “Are you gonna eat?” She asked me. I shook my head laying down she closed the door letting me be alone. My head was reeling I didn’t know what to do. I did what I normally do while im stressed I jogged but I couldn’t go past the door Beth was downstairs. I looked at my window getting a thought that I haven’t done since high school.

I climbed down the window sneaking out the back. I didn’t even care if it was dark. My mind was wandering through everything I needed to go out and breath. So I jogged and jogged past by places I've been to and past by places I've never been. I didn’t stop to take a breath until I looked up seeing the Loft.  
No one was in the front of the building so I managed to get up the steps. I was gonna knock on the door but it was unlocked. I headed to the office that I wasn’t allowed in when I would come in here.

I opened the door seeing Rio in his desk. “What are you doing here” He got up from his desk. “You think you can come”I cut him off. He leaned on the desk following my movements like a hawk

“Rio” He looked at me. “Shut up” He remained quiet but still stared.

“What are you doing here” He finally said.

“Why aren’t you scared of the FBI,” I told him. He scoffed looking at me with his hooded eyes.

“I don’t need to be. They ain't got nothing” He responded. I took a step forward still being cautious with him but in all honesty, i wasn't scared and I didn't know why

“How do you know that?” Letting my mind wander to a day like that. “How do you know one day you wake up to a gun pointed at you”

“Because I've already been woken with a gun pointed at me” He scoffed standing up straight. “Hell, they were times I had to wake the people up with a gun” His hands now were in front of him.

“Get out of town for a few days at least” I didn’t want to tell him without snitching my sister out. I wanted for him to be safe hell I needed him to be safe.

“I ain't scared of no damn FBI” He repeated.

“Why are you being stubborn?” I argued with him.

“Why do you care” The whole room fell silent as he let those words out. I shouldn’t do this. I walked up to him grabbing a hold of his neck before bringing him down to kiss me. He stayed frozen for a minute making me let go.

“Im sorry” I covered my face wanting to be anywhere but here. “I just thought” He didn’t even let me finish before he grabbed me by the neck slamming his lips on mine. His smell of cologne intoxicated me, he grabbed me by the thighs pulling me to his desk where he threw the rest of the paper on the floor. His lips left a trail of kisses down the line of my jaw to my neck. I tried moving my hands to do something but he stopped me still kissing me on my neck. I looked over his shoulder seeing the couch in the back of the room.

"Couch" I muttered in between kisses. He understood lifting me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist before he moved to the couch letting me down gently unlike in the desk. I let my hand trail from the back of his neck to the top of his head raking my nails on him eliciting a moan from him. He removed my leggings now leaving me in only my undergarments while he was still fully clothed. I tugged at the hem of his shirt hoping he got the idea to remove it. He did taking off his shirt letting me see his tattoos again and this time I was actually allowed to touch them.

I let my hands wander his chest feeling any wound and scars there until I landed on the wound I sewed. It was still very fresh and I realized I shouldn't be doing this, that what I was doing was stupidly dangerous. But when I felt his lips on mine and I inhaled his cologne that I've grown to like I knew I touched fire and im gonna get burnt but maybe I didn't care. 


	12. Remix

When my eyes opened up I felt at peace with myself for five seconds before everything came rushing back to me. I looked around the room realizing where I was.

 

I can't believe I actually did that it was so wrong but it felt so good like when you take a cookie from the cookie jar against your parent's permission. It seems like when you shouldn't do it it makes it 1000x better. I bit my nail turning around seeing Rio asleep. How he found our position comfortable puzzled me, this couch wasn't the most comfortable thing but I didn't want to leave it.

 

Rio looked peaceful he looked years younger but you could see the bags under his eyes from days of no sleep. How can you when youre the leader to a gang. I got up from the couch grabbing my clothes that were thrown all around the room. Once I had everything on I walked toward Rio crouching in front of him giving him a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.

 

 I looked out the window seeing it was still dark outside. How long have I been here? I tried to not make a sound since I didn't know who was here and would be happy to see someone leave Rios room at these hours.

 

When I walked inside the house I saw Annie passed out in the loveseat a bottle of whiskey in hand, Ruby was sleeping on the couch wrapped in a blanket but Beth was nowhere to be found. I tiptoed to my room trying to not wake the kids or anyone for that matter. When I entered my room Beth was waiting in my bed.

 

I groaned closing the door behind me. "Beth im tired I just want to go to bed " I turned on the lights going to my drawer to get some spare clothes, my body was aching making me very mad that I had classes in less than 5 hours. I grabbed my phone that I left here on top of the drawer. "Im gonna have to start locking my door don't I?" I turned to Beth who was still in my bed sitting up straight.

 

"I came up here to check up on you to see your room empty so my question is where were you?"  I rolled my eyes taking my clothes off before putting new ones on. I don't even care if this is unhygienic I just wanted to sleep, Rio really wore me out.

 

"The same thing I do when im stressed since we were kids I ran" I wasn't even looking at her cause I know if I do she'll see right through me. So I distracted myself by putting my clothes in the basket. She scoffed in disbelief before standing up.

 

"I know the whole bad guy persona and leader of a gang can be a real turn on but it won't be when it causes you to end up in jail"

 

"Are you putting me on house arrest that I can't even jog anymore without you thinking im doing something bad?"  I know im lying to her but I don't know what to do.

 

"I've also know when you lie to me don't forget" She sighed touching my shoulder. "Youll always be my little sister that I need to protect and ill never stop"

 

"But I know what im doing"

 

"I hope you do" She walked towards the door stopping at the entrance before turning towards me. "I don't want to fight anymore. I just want my little sister back" I yelled back at her to stop.

 

"Please don't do it" I pleaded to her. "Don't send him there give me time to fix this" I was hoping I could convince her I could fix this I can make both sides happy and no one going to jail or be dead. She sighed gazing at me before nodding. I beamed saying I love you to her before going to bed.

 

When my alarm rang for class I shut it off digging my head into the pillow. "Im not going to school today," I thought to myself. I cant handle another day of school when I can't even concentrate for more than 30 seconds. I let myself fall back to sleep letting my thought wander to Rio.

 

I finally woke up around 10 in the morning when the house was empty. I made myself breakfast since I haven't had a homecooked meal in a bit. Eggs, bacon, and some toast I sat at the table eating my delicious meal when I got a call.

 

"Hi is this Ms. Marks cell phone?" I said yes cleaning my mouth. "I was wondering if you can come by the campuses office we tried contacting you through your class but you weren't there.

 

"Oh yes, I had some family problems" I made up a quick lie to the lady. "Can I know what this is about"

 

"Oh im sorry it's about your class debt" My heart froze for a minute. "Im hoping to see you soon" The lady hung up the phone right after.  I ate quickly before heading upstairs to shower any dirt and grime I've accumulated. The shower was so nice and heavenly I didn't want to get out. I stayed in the shower long enough that the bathroom steemed before I left it.

\--

 

I was directed to sit in the chair as I waited for the lady. A couple minutes passed when she came in. "Thank you for waiting" She sat down grabbing my folder.

 

"Well, Ms. Marks I have good news" She looked up at me smiling. "You've reached the halfway mark." I smiled back the stress immediately lifting away. " You've also been removed from the high-risk category and just in the nick of time one more week before the winter semester ends"

 

"Now youre still not out of the woods you still have to pay the remainder of your debt to receive your diploma  and pay your next course first before taking the courses but now your past credits have been recovered"

 

"I already set up my next semester courses ill pay the week before class begins," I told her getting up.

 

She stopped me giving me a once over, "Im glad you figured things out Ms. Marks youre a bright student I would've hated to see you leave this school" Me too. I left her office running some errands and buying some groceries since Beth hasn't done it in a bit.

 

When I got home the house was still empty only a little note. "Had to handle some problem with Annie, The kids at grandmas ill be back soon xoxo Beth" hung in the fridge. I restocked the fridge before heading upstairs to see how much money I had left of my honeypot.

 

I counted the money twice grunting annoyed. There was only 25k left, by the end of the month I'll only have 6k for any type of emergencies and paying this rotten egg of mines I'll have nothing left by mid next month. I'll have to talk to Rio maybe he can still forgive us maybe get back to work with washing cash.

 

What must be going on in his head right now does he hate us, does he hate me? Last night finally had hit me and I had a thousand questions needed answering.

 

The rest of the day was a blur I caught up on my assignments, sending them to my professors waiting on Beth. It was around 8 when I got a text from her.

 

"Staying here late ill explain everything tomorrow no need to worry love you" I didn't understand why I couldn't go. I was the one Annie always came to when it came for help since I was the more understanding. I shrugged it off letting myself have an early night.

 

* * *

 

The next day after classes I got a text from beth just a single text that sent me flying through the college parking and to the hospital.

 

"Dean's been in an accident"

 

I looked frantically in the halls looking for Beth when I finally found her she was pacing back and forth. "Any news?" I asked her. She looked towards me giving me a hug before responding.

 

"No, they haven't come out yet" So both of us sat there until a nurse came out calling her last name.

 

"He's gonna be fine" she reassured us.

 

"Oh, God" Beth let out a sigh of relief hugging me. "Thank you" The lady looked at her tablet before speaking again.

 

"Just a couple of bruised ribs. Minor whiplash" I held on to Beth's hand as she continued speaking to the lady.

 

"Can I see him?"She asked her.

 

"He's up in imaging. We're running a CT just to be safe"  She handed beth a bottle of medication "This is for pain"

 

"And this won't interfere with the radiation? He's on so many things now because of all the side effects" Beth looked at the pain medication before looking at the doctor.

 

"I'm sorry, the side effects of what?"The doctor looked at the tablet seeing is medical history im assuming.

 

"Of the cancer," I told her. The doctor remained quiet letting us figure it out.

 

"Did you take his blood?" Beth asked not believing her. I wouldn't either, who can make up such a huge lie.

 

"Yes, we did" That son of a bitch I thought low of him but not this low. I helped her to a chair letting her be in silence for as long as she needed. I knew she needed me but right now she needed herself needed to piece everything together. 

 

"Thank you for being here," She told me after several minutes.

 

"What are sisters for" I smiled at her handing her the cup of water.

 

"I have to tell you something," She told me as she put the cup down.

 

"Beth lets leave it to later okay how are you feeling" I was getting up when I saw the news in the corner of the hall.

 

The journalist started out with a new story, "racketeering this evening following the robbery of an Ashfield area Fine & Frugal.

Local authorities working with the FBI say the men laundered money through several small businesses in Wayne County, including the Fine & Frugal chain" I stared at Beth when a picture of Rio popped up in the screen. I got up listening to the anchorman. "According to authorities, they were able to charge the defendants after a tip left by robbers led a team of investigators to the gang's illegal financial activities"

 

"You didn't" I shook my head not wanting to believe it, believe that my own sister would lie to me.

 

"Let me explain" She grabbed my hand stopping me.

 

"Explain what that someone I thought I could trust lied to me or that you didn't put him in jail because you were scared of him" It was making more sense as I pieced it together if she didn't like his rules she'd make her own.

 

"I didn't tell you because you were too attached"

 

"I don't give a damn if I was or wasn't you still lied to me" I pulled my arm away walking away from the hospital leaving Beth alone.

 

 

I drove to the loft seeing it surrounded by policemen. The whole place was being ransacked and Rio was gone. I didn't know where else to go I felt betrayed by my own blood I couldn't trust anyone with no other choice I went home. I unlocked the house entering feeling this ton of weight on my shoulder ready to break me.

 

I went to the kitchen grabbing the bottle of whiskey before serving myself in a cup. I drank from my cup letting the liquid sting my throat.

 

"Welcome home honey" My hand holding the cup went numb letting the cup slip through dropping on the floor shattering into tiny pieces. " I would've made you dinner but I got tied up"  I turned around slowly seeing Rio bruised up standing behind the counter staring at me.

 

"Rio" I tried speaking to him but he shut me up.

 

"I don't need to hear your lies" He snickered walking around the counter stalking me like a prey. "Back at the loft you knew that this was gonna happen you basically rubbed it in my face" He grabbed the gun that was hoisted on his back leaving it on the counter.

 

"I didn't know I swear to god,"  I told him letting my hand hold me down or I would've collapsed. He was now on the side of the counter eyeing me up and down.

 

"Not gonna lie Lil Red" He played with his bottom lip coming closer. "You got major balls. To show up at the Loft warn me then sleep with me to then put me away" He stayed at the corner of the counter still keeping his distance.

 

I couldn't move, I could speak, I couldn't even cry I just stayed motionless. "I knew you and your sister liked the money but enough to put me away?" he leaned forward his face stone cold. "I know you must got big plans. But, see, you didn't think things all the way through." He grabbed his gun again before continuing to walk towards me. "It takes balls to do what I do.

You wanna be the king, you gotta kill the king. This stuff's medieval, darling" He was only a few inches away from me now. His gun stuck to my side directly not pointing at me but trapping me.

 

"I would never have meant to hurt you" I whispered to him closing my eyes for a second his taunts remained quiet when I opened my eyes again he removed his facial expression returning to his stone cold one. "Please don't kill me"

 

He laughed before putting the gun down, "I ain't gonna kill nobody,"  He leaned forward whispering to my ear, "You are Lil Red" before walking a step back so he was against the counter. I grabbed the gun pointing it to him. He smirked challenging me. I stared at the golden gun in my hand, it was so heavy so cold against my hand. How many people has this gun killed?

 

I looked at Rio before looking at the gun again, im not letting it get another victim. "No, I am not" I unloaded the gun letting the bullets in the clip clank onto the floor before slamming the gun behind me.  "Im not killing anyone"

 

"Im not killing you" Like a rush of wind he had the gun in his hand holding it to me.

 

"One in the chamber" The gun was pointed directly to my chest, the metal making my heart speed up. "Hesitation kills you darling" I turned my head not wanting to face the gun. The gun was inches away from me and I had a sudden flashback to the first time I had a near death experience with him.

 

"Fine then do it" I wasn't gonna die without saying my final piece. "Kill me but I didn't do this. I didn't send you to jail" His stance faltered but still remained unknown and dangerous. " What happened that night was 100% genuine," I told him looking at him one more time seeing those features one more time before closing my eyes. The whole place stayed quiet when the presence of the gun was gone I opened my eyes seeing Rio back to being against the counter.

 

"How do I know youre telling me the truth," He asked me. His eyes dropped his body relaxed and at that moment he wasn't asking me as a scary gangbanger but as a scared guy. I don't know what told me to kiss him. But I was the one to lean forward grabbing his cheeks looking at those coffee colored eyes before placing a kiss on the lips. One hand slid to the back of his neck keeping the kiss locked while the other one reached out to his hand grabbing the gun that he was still holding the gun in before putting it on the table sliding it far away from us.

"Does that prove it?" I told him out of breath staring at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS BOOK IS COMPLETED!
> 
> Well, only the first part I cant leave this relationship alone! 
> 
> Please leave a kudos if you like the story and let me know what you think!!

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comment what you think about the book so far!
> 
> Also follow me at @rioskingdom for any updates and just obsession on tumblr


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